DNS Tunneling
editDNS Tunneling
editA machine learning job detected unusually large numbers of DNS queries for a single top-level DNS domain, which is often used for DNS tunneling. DNS tunneling can be used for command-and-control, persistence, or data exfiltration activity. For example, dnscat tends to generate many DNS questions for a top-level domain as it uses the DNS protocol to tunnel data.
Rule type: machine_learning
Machine learning job: packetbeat_dns_tunneling
Machine learning anomaly threshold: 50
Severity: low
Risk score: 21
Runs every: 15 minutes
Searches indices from: now-45m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Network
- Threat Detection
- ML
- Command and Control
Version: 5 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.7.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positives
editDNS domains that use large numbers of child domains, such as software or content distribution networks, can trigger this alert and such parent domains can be excluded. ==== Threat mapping
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
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Tactic:
- Name: Command and Control
- ID: TA0011
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/
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Technique:
- Name: Protocol Tunneling
- ID: T1572
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1572/
Rule version history
edit- Version 5 (8.4.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 4 (7.12.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.10.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 2 (7.9.0 release)
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- Formatting only