Bitsadmin Activity

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is a way to reliably download files from webservers or SMB servers. This service is commonly used for legitimate purposes, but can also be used as part of a malware downloader. Additionally, bitsadmin can be used to upload files and therefore can be used for data exfiltration. This query will identify use of bitsadmin.exe for either purpose and will identify directionality file transfer directionality.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1197` BITS Jobs
Command & Control	`T1105` Ingress Tool Transfer
Exfiltration	`T1048` Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol

Event coverage

Provider	Event/ActionType	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688	A new process has been created.
Defender-DeviceProcessEvents	any	Process activity (any)

Rule body kusto

id: 2a1dc4c2-a8d6-4a0e-8539-9b971c851195
name: Bitsadmin Activity
description: |
  Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is a way to reliably download files from webservers or SMB servers. 
  This service is commonly used for legitimate purposes, but can also be used as part of a malware downloader. 
  Additionally, bitsadmin can be used to upload files and therefore can be used for data exfiltration. This
  query will identify use of bitsadmin.exe for either purpose and will identify directionality file transfer
  directionality.
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
    dataTypes:
      - DeviceProcessEvents
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics: 
  - Persistence
  - CommandAndControl
  - Exfiltration
relevantTechniques:
  - T1197
  - T1105
  - T1048
query: |
  DeviceProcessEvents
  | where 
      (FileName =~ "bitsadmin.exe" or column_ifexists('ProcessVersionInfoOriginalFileName','ColumnNotAvailable') =~ 'bitsadmin.exe')
      and ProcessCommandLine has_any ('/Transfer','/AddFile', '/AddFileSet','/AddFileWithRanges')
  | extend 
      ParsedCommandLine = parse_command_line(ProcessCommandLine,'windows')
  | extend     
      RemoteUrl = tostring(ParsedCommandLine[-2]),
      LocalFile= tostring(ParsedCommandLine[-1]),
      Direction = iff(ProcessCommandLine has "/Upload", 'Upload', 'Download')
  | project-reorder 
      TimeGenerated,
      DeviceId,
      DeviceName,
      Direction,
      RemoteUrl,
      LocalFile,
      InitiatingProcessFolderPath,
      InitiatingProcessAccountDomain,
      InitiatingProcessAccountName,
      InitiatingProcessSHA256,
      ProcessId,
      ProcessCommandLine
  | extend HostName = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.')), DeviceName)
  | extend DnsDomain = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1), "")
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: DeviceName
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: DnsDomain
        columnName: DnsDomain
  - entityType: Process
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: ProcessId
        columnName: ProcessId
      - identifier: CommandLine
        columnName: ProcessCommandLine
version: 1.0.0
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

DeviceProcessEvents

Stage 2: `where`

| where 
    (FileName =~ "bitsadmin.exe" or column_ifexists('ProcessVersionInfoOriginalFileName','ColumnNotAvailable') =~ 'bitsadmin.exe')
    and ProcessCommandLine has_any ('/Transfer','/AddFile', '/AddFileSet','/AddFileWithRanges')

Stage 3: `extend`

| extend 
    ParsedCommandLine = parse_command_line(ProcessCommandLine,'windows')

Stage 4: `extend`

| extend     
    RemoteUrl = tostring(ParsedCommandLine[-2]),
    LocalFile= tostring(ParsedCommandLine[-1]),
    Direction = iff(ProcessCommandLine has "/Upload", 'Upload', 'Download')

Direction =

ifProcessCommandLine has "/Upload"'Upload'

else'Download'

Stage 5: `project-reorder`

| project-reorder 
    TimeGenerated,
    DeviceId,
    DeviceName,
    Direction,
    RemoteUrl,
    LocalFile,
    InitiatingProcessFolderPath,
    InitiatingProcessAccountDomain,
    InitiatingProcessAccountName,
    InitiatingProcessSHA256,
    ProcessId,
    ProcessCommandLine

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend HostName = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.')), DeviceName)

HostName =

ifDeviceName has "."substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.'))

elseDeviceName

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend DnsDomain = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1), "")

DnsDomain =

ifDeviceName has "."substring(DeviceName, (indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1))

else""

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
`FileName`	eq	`bitsadmin.exe`
`ProcessCommandLine`	match	`/AddFile` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `/AddFileSet` `/AddFileWithRanges` `/Transfer` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1)
`ProcessVersionInfoOriginalFileName`	eq	`bitsadmin.exe` transforms: `column_ifexists` corpus 12 (sigma 9, splunk 2, kusto 1)

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
`ParsedCommandLine`	`extend`
`Direction`	`extend`
`LocalFile`	`extend`
`RemoteUrl`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`
`DnsDomain`	`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)

Bitsadmin Activity

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `extend`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `project-reorder`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Bitsadmin Activity

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: extend

Stage 4: extend

Stage 5: project-reorder

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `extend`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `project-reorder`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`