Qakbot Discovery Activies

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 5m
Group by: DeviceId, DeviceName
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query searches for injected processes launching discovery activity. Qakbot has been observed leading to ransomware in numerous instances. It looks for discovery commands such as net.exe, whoami.exe, nslookup.exe, netstat.exe, arp.exe, and ping.exe.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1059` Command and Scripting Interpreter
Stealth	`T1140` Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
Discovery	`T1010` Application Window Discovery

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: ba9db6b2-3d05-42ae-8aee-3a15bbe29f27
name: Qakbot Discovery Activies
description: |
  This query searches for injected processes launching discovery activity. Qakbot has been observed leading to ransomware in numerous instances. It looks for discovery commands such as net.exe, whoami.exe, nslookup.exe, netstat.exe, arp.exe, and ping.exe.
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
    dataTypes:
      - DeviceProcessEvents
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - DefenseEvasion
  - Discovery
  - Execution
relevantTechniques:
  - T1140
  - T1010
  - T1059
tags:
  - Ransomware
  - Qakbot
  - Discovery
query: |
  DeviceProcessEvents 
  | where InitiatingProcessFileName in~('mobsync.exe','explorer.exe')
  | where (FileName =~ 'net.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('view','/all'))
       or (FileName =~ 'whoami.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '/all')
       or (FileName =~ 'nslookup.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('querytype=ALL','timeout=10'))
       or (FileName =~ 'netstat.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-nao')
       or (FileName =~ 'arp.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-a')
       or (FileName =~ 'ping.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-t' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine endswith '127.0.0.1')
  | summarize DiscoveryCommands = dcount(InitiatingProcessCommandLine), make_set(InitiatingProcessFileName), make_set(FileName), make_set(InitiatingProcessCommandLine) by DeviceId, DeviceName, bin(TimeGenerated, 5m)   
  | where DiscoveryCommands >= 3
  | 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
version: 1.0.0
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

DeviceProcessEvents

Stage 2: `where`

| where InitiatingProcessFileName in~('mobsync.exe','explorer.exe')

Stage 3: `where`

| where (FileName =~ 'net.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('view','/all'))
     or (FileName =~ 'whoami.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '/all')
     or (FileName =~ 'nslookup.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('querytype=ALL','timeout=10'))
     or (FileName =~ 'netstat.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-nao')
     or (FileName =~ 'arp.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-a')
     or (FileName =~ 'ping.exe' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has '-t' and InitiatingProcessCommandLine endswith '127.0.0.1')

Stage 4: `summarize`

| summarize DiscoveryCommands = dcount(InitiatingProcessCommandLine), make_set(InitiatingProcessFileName), make_set(FileName), make_set(InitiatingProcessCommandLine) by DeviceId, DeviceName, bin(TimeGenerated, 5m)

Threshold: ge 3

Stage 5: `where`

| where DiscoveryCommands >= 3

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
`DiscoveryCommands`	ge	`3` transforms: `cased`
`FileName`	eq	`arp.exe` `net.exe` `netstat.exe` `nslookup.exe` `ping.exe` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `whoami.exe`
`InitiatingProcessCommandLine`	ends_with	`127.0.0.1`
`InitiatingProcessCommandLine`	match	`-a` transforms: `term` `-nao` transforms: `term` `-t` transforms: `term` `/all` `querytype=ALL` `timeout=10` `view`
`InitiatingProcessFileName`	in	`explorer.exe` corpus 20 (elastic 19, splunk 1) `mobsync.exe`

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
`DeviceId`	`summarize`
`DeviceName`	`summarize`
`DiscoveryCommands`	`summarize`
`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)

Qakbot Discovery Activies

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `summarize`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Qakbot Discovery Activies

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: summarize

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `summarize`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`