System Binary Proxy Execution: Odbcconf T1218.008
Tactic: Stealth
Adversaries may abuse odbcconf.exe to proxy execution of malicious payloads. Odbcconf.exe is a Windows utility that allows you to configure Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers and data source names. The Odbcconf.exe binary may be digitally signed by Microsoft.
Events covered
3 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Sysmon | Event ID 3 | Network connection |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 17 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 (8 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 (117 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 (55 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 8 rules
- Driver/DLL Installation Via Odbcconf.EXE
- New DLL Registered Via Odbcconf.EXE
- Odbcconf.EXE Suspicious DLL Location
- Potentially Suspicious DLL Registered Via Odbcconf.EXE
- Response File Execution Via Odbcconf.EXE
- Suspicious Driver/DLL Installation Via Odbcconf.EXE
- Suspicious Response File Execution Via Odbcconf.EXE
- Uncommon Child Process Spawned By Odbcconf.EXE
Elastic 6 rules
- Suspicious JetBrains TeamCity Child Process
- Suspicious MS Office Child Process
- Suspicious MS Outlook Child Process
- Suspicious PDF Reader Child Process
- Unusual Network Activity from a Windows System Binary
- Unusual Process Network Connection