Palo Alto - potential beaconing detected

Status: available
Severity: low
Time window: 1h
Group by: DestinationIP, DestinationPort, DeviceName, SourceIP, SourceUserID, TimeDeltainSeconds
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

'Identifies beaconing patterns from Palo Alto Network traffic logs based on recurrent timedelta patterns. The query leverages various KQL functions to calculate time deltas and then compares it with total events observed in a day to find percentage of beaconing. This outbound beaconing pattern to untrusted public networks should be investigated for any malware callbacks or data exfiltration attempts. Reference Blog: https://medium.com/@HuntOperator/detect-beaconing-with-flare-elastic-stack-and-intrusion-detection-systems-110dc74e0c56 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-sentinel-blog/detect-network-beaconing-via-intra-request-time-delta-patterns/ba-p/779586'

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Command & Control	`T1071` Application Layer Protocol, `T1571` Non-Standard Port

Rule body kusto

id: f0be259a-34ac-4946-aa15-ca2b115d5feb
name: Palo Alto - potential beaconing detected
description: |
  'Identifies beaconing patterns from Palo Alto Network traffic logs based on recurrent timedelta patterns.
  The query leverages various KQL functions to calculate time deltas and then compares it with total events observed in a day to find percentage of beaconing.
  This outbound beaconing pattern to untrusted public networks should be investigated for any malware callbacks or data exfiltration attempts.
  Reference Blog:
  https://medium.com/@HuntOperator/detect-beaconing-with-flare-elastic-stack-and-intrusion-detection-systems-110dc74e0c56
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-sentinel-blog/detect-network-beaconing-via-intra-request-time-delta-patterns/ba-p/779586'
severity: Low
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: CefAma
    dataTypes:
      - CommonSecurityLog
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 2d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - CommandAndControl
relevantTechniques:
  - T1071
  - T1571
query: |
  let starttime = 2d;
  let endtime = 1d;
  let TimeDeltaThreshold = 25;
  let TotalEventsThreshold = 30;
  let MostFrequentTimeDeltaThreshold = 25;
  let PercentBeaconThreshold = 80;
  CommonSecurityLog
  | where DeviceVendor == "Palo Alto Networks" and Activity == "TRAFFIC"
  | where TimeGenerated between (startofday(ago(starttime))..startofday(ago(endtime)))
  | where ipv4_is_private(DestinationIP)== false
  | project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, SourcePort, DestinationIP, DestinationPort, ReceivedBytes, SentBytes
  | sort by SourceIP asc,TimeGenerated asc, DestinationIP asc, DestinationPort asc
  | serialize
  | extend nextTimeGenerated = next(TimeGenerated, 1), nextSourceIP = next(SourceIP, 1)
  | extend TimeDeltainSeconds = datetime_diff('second',nextTimeGenerated,TimeGenerated)
  | where SourceIP == nextSourceIP
  //Whitelisting criteria/ threshold criteria
  | where TimeDeltainSeconds > TimeDeltaThreshold
  | summarize count(), sum(ReceivedBytes), sum(SentBytes)
  by TimeDeltainSeconds, bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, DestinationIP, DestinationPort
  | summarize (MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount, MostFrequentTimeDeltainSeconds) = arg_max(count_, TimeDeltainSeconds), TotalEvents=sum(count_), TotalSentBytes = sum(sum_SentBytes), TotalReceivedBytes = sum(sum_ReceivedBytes)
  by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, DestinationIP, DestinationPort
  | where TotalEvents > TotalEventsThreshold and MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount > MostFrequentTimeDeltaThreshold
  | extend BeaconPercent = MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount/toreal(TotalEvents) * 100
  | where BeaconPercent > PercentBeaconThreshold
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: SourceUserID
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: DeviceName
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: DestinationIP
version: 1.0.7
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let starttime = 2d;
let endtime = 1d;
let TimeDeltaThreshold = 25;
let TotalEventsThreshold = 30;
let MostFrequentTimeDeltaThreshold = 25;
let PercentBeaconThreshold = 80;

Stage 1: `source`

CommonSecurityLog

Stage 2: `where`

| where DeviceVendor == "Palo Alto Networks" and Activity == "TRAFFIC"

Stage 3: `where`

| where TimeGenerated between (startofday(ago(starttime))..startofday(ago(endtime)))

Stage 4: `where`

| where ipv4_is_private(DestinationIP)== false

Stage 5: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, SourcePort, DestinationIP, DestinationPort, ReceivedBytes, SentBytes

Stage 6: `sort`

| sort by SourceIP asc,TimeGenerated asc, DestinationIP asc, DestinationPort asc

Stage 7: `kusto:serialize`

| serialize

Stage 8: `extend`

| extend nextTimeGenerated = next(TimeGenerated, 1), nextSourceIP = next(SourceIP, 1)

Stage 9: `extend`

| extend TimeDeltainSeconds = datetime_diff('second',nextTimeGenerated,TimeGenerated)

Stage 10: `where`

| where SourceIP == nextSourceIP

Stage 11: `where`

| where TimeDeltainSeconds > TimeDeltaThreshold

Stage 12: `summarize`

| summarize count(), sum(ReceivedBytes), sum(SentBytes)
by TimeDeltainSeconds, bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, DestinationIP, DestinationPort

Stage 13: `summarize`

| summarize (MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount, MostFrequentTimeDeltainSeconds) = arg_max(count_, TimeDeltainSeconds), TotalEvents=sum(count_), TotalSentBytes = sum(sum_SentBytes), TotalReceivedBytes = sum(sum_ReceivedBytes)
by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), DeviceName, SourceUserID, SourceIP, DestinationIP, DestinationPort

Threshold: gt 30

Stage 14: `where`

| where TotalEvents > TotalEventsThreshold and MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount > MostFrequentTimeDeltaThreshold

Stage 15: `extend`

| extend BeaconPercent = MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount/toreal(TotalEvents) * 100

Stage 16: `where`

| where BeaconPercent > PercentBeaconThreshold

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`DestinationIP`	cidr_match	`10.0.0.0/8`, `172.16.0.0/12`, `192.168.0.0/16`, `169.254.0.0/16`, `127.0.0.0/8`

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
`Activity`	eq	`TRAFFIC` transforms: `cased`
`BeaconPercent`	gt	`80` transforms: `cased`
`DeviceVendor`	eq	`Palo Alto Networks` transforms: `cased`
`MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount`	gt	`25` transforms: `cased`
`SourceIP`	eq	`nextSourceIP` transforms: `cased`
`TimeDeltainSeconds`	gt	`25` transforms: `cased`
`TotalEvents`	gt	`30` 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
`DestinationIP`	`summarize`
`DestinationPort`	`summarize`
`DeviceName`	`summarize`
`MostFrequentTimeDeltaCount`	`summarize`
`SourceIP`	`summarize`
`SourceUserID`	`summarize`
`TotalEvents`	`summarize`
`TotalReceivedBytes`	`summarize`
`TotalSentBytes`	`summarize`
`BeaconPercent`	`extend`

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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)

Palo Alto - potential beaconing detected

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `project`

Stage 6: `sort`

Stage 7: `kusto:serialize`

Stage 8: `extend`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `where`

Stage 11: `where`

Stage 12: `summarize`

Stage 13: `summarize`

Stage 14: `where`

Stage 15: `extend`

Stage 16: `where`

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Palo Alto - potential beaconing detected

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: project

Stage 6: sort

Stage 7: kusto:serialize

Stage 8: extend

Stage 9: extend

Stage 10: where

Stage 11: where

Stage 12: summarize

Stage 13: summarize

Stage 14: where

Stage 15: extend

Stage 16: where

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `project`

Stage 6: `sort`

Stage 7: `kusto:serialize`

Stage 8: `extend`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `where`

Stage 11: `where`

Stage 12: `summarize`

Stage 13: `summarize`

Stage 14: `where`

Stage 15: `extend`

Stage 16: `where`