ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1d
Group by: Computer
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This detection uses Sysmon telemetry to detect suspicious local connections via a named pipe to the AD FS configuration database (Windows Internal Database). In order to use this query you need to be collecting Sysmon EventIdD 18 (Pipe Connected). If you do not have Sysmon data in your workspace this query will raise an error stating: Failed to resolve scalar expression named "[@Name]"

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Collection	`T1005` Data from Local System

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 18	PipeEvent (Pipe Connected)

Rule body kusto

id: dcdf9bfc-c239-4764-a9f9-3612e6dff49c
name: ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection
description: |
  'This detection uses Sysmon telemetry to detect suspicious local connections via a named pipe to the AD FS configuration database (Windows Internal Database).
  In order to use this query you need to be collecting Sysmon EventIdD 18 (Pipe Connected).
  If you do not have Sysmon data in your workspace this query will raise an error stating:
  Failed to resolve scalar expression named "[@Name]"'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
status: Available
tactics:
  - Collection
relevantTechniques:
  - T1005
tags:
  - Solorigate
  - NOBELIUM
  - SimuLand
query: |
  // Adjust this to use a longer timeframe to identify ADFS servers
  //let lookback = 6d;
  // Adjust this to adjust the key export detection  timeframe
  //let timeframe = 1d;
  // Start be identifying ADFS servers to reduce FP chance
  let ADFS_Servers = (
  Event
  //| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe+lookback)
  | where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
  | where EventID == 18
  | extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
  | mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
  | evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
  | extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
  | evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, MG, ManagementGroupName, _ResourceId)
  | extend Image = column_ifexists("Image", "")
  | extend process = split(Image, '\\', -1)[-1]
  | where process =~ "Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe"
  | summarize by Computer);
  // Look for ADFS servers where Named Pipes event are present
  Event
  //| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
  | where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
  | where EventID == 18
  | where Computer in~ (ADFS_Servers)
  | extend RenderedDescription = tostring(split(RenderedDescription, ":")[0])
  | extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
  | mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
  | evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
  | extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
  | evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, RenderedDescription, MG, ManagementGroupName, Type, _ResourceId)
  | extend RuleName = column_ifexists("RuleName", ""),
      TechniqueId = column_ifexists("TechniqueId", ""),
      TechniqueName = column_ifexists("TechniqueName", ""),
      Image = column_ifexists("Image", ""),
      PipeName = column_ifexists("PipeName", ""),
      EventType = column_ifexists("EventType", "")
  | parse RuleName with * 'technique_id=' TechniqueId ',' * 'technique_name=' TechniqueName
  // Look for Pipe related to querying the WID
  | where PipeName == "\\MICROSOFT##WID\\tsql\\query"
  | extend process = split(Image, '\\', -1)[-1]
  // Exclude expected processes
  | where process !in ("Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe", "Microsoft.Identity.Health.Adfs.PshSurrogate.exe", "AzureADConnect.exe", "Microsoft.Tri.Sensor.exe", "wsmprovhost.exe","mmc.exe", "sqlservr.exe")
  | extend Operation = RenderedDescription
  | project-reorder TimeGenerated, EventType, Operation, process, Image, Computer, UserName
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(UserName, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(UserName, @'\')[0])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: UserName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: AccountNTDomain
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Computer
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: DnsDomain
        columnName: HostNameDomain
version: 1.0.2
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: `ADFS_Servers`

let ADFS_Servers = (
Event
| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
| where EventID == 18
| extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
| mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
| evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
| extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
| evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, MG, ManagementGroupName, _ResourceId)
| extend Image = column_ifexists("Image", "")
| extend process = split(Image, '\\', -1)[-1]
| where process =~ "Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe"
| summarize by Computer);

Stage 1: `source`

let ADFS_Servers

Stage 2: `source`

Event

Stage 3: `where`

| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"

Stage 4: `where`

| where EventID == 18

Stage 5: `where`

| where Computer in~ (ADFS_Servers)

References ADFS_Servers (defined above).

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend RenderedDescription = tostring(split(RenderedDescription, ":")[0])

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data

Stage 8: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData

Stage 9: `evaluate`

| evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)

Stage 10: `extend`

| extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")

Stage 11: `evaluate`

| evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, RenderedDescription, MG, ManagementGroupName, Type, _ResourceId)

Stage 12: `extend`

| extend RuleName = column_ifexists("RuleName", ""),
    TechniqueId = column_ifexists("TechniqueId", ""),
    TechniqueName = column_ifexists("TechniqueName", ""),
    Image = column_ifexists("Image", ""),
    PipeName = column_ifexists("PipeName", ""),
    EventType = column_ifexists("EventType", "")

Stage 13: `parse`

| parse RuleName with * 'technique_id=' TechniqueId ',' * 'technique_name=' TechniqueName

Stage 14: `where`

| where PipeName == "\\MICROSOFT##WID\\tsql\\query"

Stage 15: `extend`

| extend process = split(Image, '\\', -1)[-1]

Stage 16: `where`

| where process !in ("Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe", "Microsoft.Identity.Health.Adfs.PshSurrogate.exe", "AzureADConnect.exe", "Microsoft.Tri.Sensor.exe", "wsmprovhost.exe","mmc.exe", "sqlservr.exe")

Stage 17: `extend`

| extend Operation = RenderedDescription

Stage 18: `project-reorder`

| project-reorder TimeGenerated, EventType, Operation, process, Image, Computer, UserName

Stage 19: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(UserName, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(UserName, @'\')[0])

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`process`	in	`AzureADConnect.exe`, `Microsoft.Identity.Health.Adfs.PshSurrogate.exe`, `Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe`, `Microsoft.Tri.Sensor.exe`, `mmc.exe`, `sqlservr.exe`, `wsmprovhost.exe`

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`Computer`	in	`ADFS_Servers` corpus 5 (kusto 5)
`EventID`	eq	`18` transforms: `cased` corpus 6 (splunk 4, chronicle 1, kusto 1)
`PipeName`	eq	`\\MICROSOFT##WID\\tsql\\query` transforms: `cased`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`RenderedDescription`	`extend`
`EventData`	`extend`
`Key`	`extend`
`Value`	`extend`
`EventType`	`extend`
`Image`	`extend`
`PipeName`	`extend`
`RuleName`	`extend`
`TechniqueId`	`extend`
`TechniqueName`	`extend`
`process`	`extend`
`Operation`	`extend`
`DomainIndex`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`
`HostNameDomain`	`extend`
`AccountNTDomain`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: `ADFS_Servers`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `source`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `mv-expand`

Stage 9: `evaluate`

Stage 10: `extend`

Stage 11: `evaluate`

Stage 12: `extend`

Stage 13: `parse`

Stage 14: `where`

Stage 15: `extend`

Stage 16: `where`

Stage 17: `extend`

Stage 18: `project-reorder`

Stage 19: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: ADFS_Servers

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: source

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: extend

Stage 8: mv-expand

Stage 9: evaluate

Stage 10: extend

Stage 11: evaluate

Stage 12: extend

Stage 13: parse

Stage 14: where

Stage 15: extend

Stage 16: where

Stage 17: extend

Stage 18: project-reorder

Stage 19: extend (3 consecutive steps)

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Let binding: `ADFS_Servers`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `source`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `mv-expand`

Stage 9: `evaluate`

Stage 10: `extend`

Stage 11: `evaluate`

Stage 12: `extend`

Stage 13: `parse`

Stage 14: `where`

Stage 15: `extend`

Stage 16: `where`

Stage 17: `extend`

Stage 18: `project-reorder`

Stage 19: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)