Remote Services: Remote Desktop Protocol T1021.001
Tactic: Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use Valid Accounts to log into a computer using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). The adversary may then perform actions as the logged-on user.
Events covered
23 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 80 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (55 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (298 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (115 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 26 rules
- Denied Access To Remote Desktop
- Denied RDP login with valid credentials
- Hermetic Wiper TG Process Patterns
- New Remote Desktop Connection Initiated Via Mstsc.EXE
- OpenCanary - RDP New Connection Attempt
- Outbound RDP Connections Over Non-Standard Tools
- Port Forwarding Activity Via SSH.EXE
- Potential Tampering With RDP Related Registry Keys Via Reg.EXE
- Publicly Accessible RDP Service
- RDP BlueeKeep connection closed (CVE-2019-0708)
- RDP discovery performed on multiple hosts
- RDP Enable or Disable via Win32_TerminalServiceSetting WMI Class
- RDP Login from Localhost
- RDP Over Reverse SSH Tunnel
- RDP over Reverse SSH Tunnel WFP
- RDP reconnaissance with valid credentials performed on multiple hosts
- RDP shadow session configuration enabled (registry)
- RDP shadow session started (command)
- RDP shadow session started (native)
- RDP to HTTP or HTTPS Target Ports
- RDP tunneling configuration enabled for port forwarding
- RDP tunneling detected
- RDP tunneling via ngrok detected
- Suspicious Plink Port Forwarding
- Suspicious RDP Redirect Using TSCON
- User Added to Remote Desktop Users Group
Elastic 19 rules
- Execution via TSClient Mountpoint
- High Mean of Process Arguments in an RDP Session
- High Mean of RDP Session Duration
- High Variance in RDP Session Duration
- Lateral Movement via Startup Folder
- Network-Level Authentication (NLA) Disabled
- Potential Outgoing RDP Connection by Unusual Process
- Potential Remote Desktop Shadowing Activity
- Potential Remote Desktop Tunneling Detected
- Potential SharpRDP Behavior
- RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) from the Internet
- RDP Enabled via Registry
- Remote Desktop Enabled in Windows Firewall by Netsh
- Spike in Number of Connections Made from a Source IP
- Spike in Number of Connections Made to a Destination IP
- Spike in Number of Processes in an RDP Session
- Suspicious RDP ActiveX Client Loaded
- Unusual Time or Day for an RDP Session
- Unusual Windows Remote User
Splunk 29 rules
- Allow Inbound Traffic By Firewall Rule Registry
- Allow Inbound Traffic In Firewall Rule
- MSTSC Execution (EDR)
- MSTSC Execution (Windows Event Log)
- RDP Connection (Sysmon)
- RDP Connection (Windows Event Log)
- RDP Enabled (PowerShell)
- RDP Enabled (Sysmon)
- RDP Enabled (Windows Event Log)
- RDP File Executed from Outlook Temp Directory (Sysmon)
- RDP File Executed from Outlook Temp Directory (Windows Event Log)
- RDP File Written by Outlook (Sysmon)
- RDP File Written by Outlook (Windows Event Log)
- RDP Logon_Logoff Event (Windows Event Log)
- Remote Desktop Network Traffic
- Remote Desktop Process Running On System
- Windows Default RDP File Creation By Non MSTSC Process
- Windows Default Rdp File Unhidden
- Windows MSTSC RDP Commandline
- Windows Process Execution From RDP Share
- Windows RDP Bitmap Cache File Creation
- Windows RDP Client Launched with Admin Session
- Windows RDP File Execution
- Windows RDP Login Session Was Established
- Windows RDP Server Registry Entry Created
- Windows Remote Service Rdpwinst Tool Execution
- Windows Remote Services Allow Rdp In Firewall
- Windows Remote Services Allow Remote Assistance
- Windows Remote Services Rdp Enable
Kusto 6 rules
- Detect service account login on new device
- Detect Suspicious ncrypt.dll usage on admin device with RDP connections to non TPM protected device
- Detect Suspicious ncrypt.dll usage with RDP connections to unmanaged or non TPM protected device
- Hunt for devices doing first RDP session
- Hunt for RDP sessions to unmanaged and non TPM devices
- Remote Desktop Protocol - SharpRDP