Rare client observed with high reverse DNS lookup count

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 8d
Group by: ClientIP
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

'Identifies clients with a high reverse DNS counts that could be carrying out reconnaissance or discovery activity. Alerts are generated if the IP performing such reverse DNS lookups was not seen doing so in the preceding 7-day period.'

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Discovery	`T1046` Network Service Discovery

Rule body kusto

id: 15ae38a2-2e29-48f7-883f-863fb25a5a06
name: Rare client observed with high reverse DNS lookup count
description: |
  'Identifies clients with a high reverse DNS counts that could be carrying out reconnaissance or discovery activity.
  Alerts are generated if the IP performing such reverse DNS lookups was not seen doing so in the preceding 7-day period.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: DNS
    dataTypes:
      - DnsEvents
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 8d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Discovery
relevantTechniques:
  - T1046
query: |
  let starttime = 8d;
  let endtime = 1d;
  let threshold = 10;
  DnsEvents
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(endtime)
  | where Name has "in-addr.arpa"
  | summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), dcount(Name), ReverseDNSLookup_List = make_set(Name,100) by ClientIP
  | where dcount_Name > threshold
  | project StartTimeUtc, EndTimeUtc, ClientIP , dcount_Name, ReverseDNSLookup_List
  // Filter out previously seen IPs
  // Returns all the records from the left side that don't have matches from the right
  | join kind=leftanti (DnsEvents
      | where TimeGenerated between(ago(starttime)..ago(endtime))
      | where Name has "in-addr.arpa"
      | summarize dcount(Name) by ClientIP, bin(TimeGenerated, 1d)
      | where dcount_Name > threshold
      | project ClientIP , dcount_Name
  ) on ClientIP
entityMappings:
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: ClientIP
version: 1.0.2
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let starttime = 8d;
let endtime = 1d;
let threshold = 10;

Stage 1: `source`

DnsEvents

Stage 2: `where`

| where TimeGenerated > ago(endtime)

Stage 3: `where`

| where Name has "in-addr.arpa"

Stage 4: `summarize`

| summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), dcount(Name), ReverseDNSLookup_List = make_set(Name,100) by ClientIP

Stage 5: `where`

| where dcount_Name > threshold

Stage 6: `project`

| project StartTimeUtc, EndTimeUtc, ClientIP , dcount_Name, ReverseDNSLookup_List

Stage 7: `join` (negated)

| join kind=leftanti (DnsEvents
    | where TimeGenerated between(ago(starttime)..ago(endtime))
    | where Name has "in-addr.arpa"
    | summarize dcount(Name) by ClientIP, bin(TimeGenerated, 1d)
    | where dcount_Name > threshold
    | project ClientIP , dcount_Name
) on ClientIP

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`Name`	match	`in-addr.arpa`
`dcount_Name`	gt	`10`

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
`Name`	match	`in-addr.arpa` transforms: `term`
`dcount_Name`	gt	`10` 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
`ClientIP`	`project`
`EndTimeUtc`	`project`
`ReverseDNSLookup_List`	`project`
`StartTimeUtc`	`project`
`dcount_Name`	`project`

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`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)

Rare client observed with high reverse DNS lookup count

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `summarize`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `project`

Stage 7: `join` (negated)

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Rare client observed with high reverse DNS lookup count

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: summarize

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: project

Stage 7: join (negated)

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `summarize`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `project`

Stage 7: `join` (negated)