IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Command Prompt Network Connection

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Command Prompt Network Connection

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Identifies cmd.exe making a network connection. Adversaries could abuse cmd.exe to download or execute malware from a remote URL.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*
logs-windows.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-registry/iana-ipv4-special-registry.xhtml

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Execution

Version: 8 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

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Administrators may use the command prompt for regular administrative tasks. It’s important to baseline your environment for network connections being made from the command prompt to determine any abnormal use of this tool.

Rule query

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sequence by process.entity_id [process where process.name :
"cmd.exe" and event.type == "start"] [network where process.name :
"cmd.exe" and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
"192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32",
"192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32",
"192.0.2.0/24", "192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24",
"192.168.0.0/16", "192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "100.64.0.0/10",
"192.175.48.0/24", "198.18.0.0/15",
"198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1",
"FE80::/10", "FF00::/8")]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Technique:
- Name: Command and Scripting Interpreter
- ID: T1059
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/
Tactic:
- Name: Command and Control
- ID: TA0011
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/
Technique:
- Name: Ingress Tool Transfer
- ID: T1105
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105/

Rule version history

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Version 8 (8.4.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 7 (7.14.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by process.entity_id [process where process.name :
"cmd.exe" and event.type == "start"] [network where process.name :
"cmd.exe" and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"172.16.0.0/12", "192.168.0.0/16")]

Version 6 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 5 (7.10.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.category:network and event.type:connection and
process.name:cmd.exe and not destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or
172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16)

Version 4 (7.9.1 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.9.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process.name:cmd.exe and event.action:"Network connection detected
(rule: NetworkConnect)" and not destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or
172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16)

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process.name:cmd.exe and event.action:"Network connection detected
(rule: NetworkConnect)" and not destination.ip:10.0.0.0/8 and not
destination.ip:172.16.0.0/12 and not destination.ip:192.168.0.0/16

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