CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category pipe_created
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the creation of a named pipe with a pattern found in CobaltStrike malleable C2 profiles

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Privilege Escalation	`T1055` Process Injection
Stealth	`T1055` Process Injection

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 17	PipeEvent (Pipe Created)
Sysmon	Event ID 18	PipeEvent (Pipe Connected)

Rule body yaml

title: CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns
id: 85adeb13-4fc9-4e68-8a4a-c7cb2c336eb7
related:
    - id: 0e7163d4-9e19-4fa7-9be6-000c61aad77a # Regex
      type: similar
    - id: d5601f8c-b26f-4ab0-9035-69e11a8d4ad2 # Generic
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects the creation of a named pipe with a pattern found in CobaltStrike malleable C2 profiles
references:
    - https://svch0st.medium.com/guide-to-named-pipes-and-hunting-for-cobalt-strike-pipes-dc46b2c5f575
    - https://gist.github.com/MHaggis/6c600e524045a6d49c35291a21e10752
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-07-30
modified: 2024-01-26
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1055
    - stp.1k
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: pipe_created
    definition: 'Note that you have to configure logging for Named Pipe Events in Sysmon config (Event ID 17 and Event ID 18). The basic configuration is in popular sysmon configuration (https://github.com/SwiftOnSecurity/sysmon-config), but it is worth verifying. You can also use other repo, e.g. https://github.com/Neo23x0/sysmon-config, https://github.com/olafhartong/sysmon-modular You can also use other repo, e.g. https://github.com/Neo23x0/sysmon-config, https://github.com/olafhartong/sysmon-modular. How to test detection? You can always use Cobalt Strike, but also you can check powershell script from this site https://svch0st.medium.com/guide-to-named-pipes-and-hunting-for-cobalt-strike-pipes-dc46b2c5f575'
detection:
    selection_malleable_profile_generic:
        - PipeName|startswith:
              - '\DserNamePipe'
              - '\f4c3'
              - '\f53f'
              - '\fullduplex_'
              - '\mojo.5688.8052.183894939787088877'
              - '\mojo.5688.8052.35780273329370473'
              - '\MsFteWds'
              - '\msrpc_'
              - '\mypipe-f'
              - '\mypipe-h'
              - '\ntsvcs'
              - '\PGMessagePipe'
              - '\rpc_'
              - '\scerpc'
              - '\SearchTextHarvester'
              - '\spoolss'
              - '\win_svc'
              - '\win\msrpc_'
              - '\windows.update.manager'
              - '\wkssvc'
        - PipeName:
              - '\demoagent_11'
              - '\demoagent_22'
    selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener:
        PipeName|startswith: '\Winsock2\CatalogChangeListener-'
        PipeName|endswith: '-0,'
    filter_main_generic:
        PipeName:
            - '\wkssvc'
            - '\spoolss'
            - '\scerpc'
            - '\ntsvcs'
            - '\SearchTextHarvester'
            - '\PGMessagePipe'
            - '\MsFteWds'
    filter_optional_websense:
        Image|contains:
            - ':\Program Files\Websense\'
            - ':\Program Files (x86)\Websense\'
        PipeName|startswith:
            - '\DserNamePipeR'
            - '\DserNamePipeW'
    condition: 1 of selection_malleable_profile_* and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Chrome instances using the exact same pipe name "mojo.xxx"
    - Websense Endpoint using the pipe name "DserNamePipe(R|W)\d{1,5}"
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_malleable_profile_* and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

Stage 1: `selection_malleable_profile_generic`

selection_malleable_profile_generic:
    - PipeName|startswith:
          - '\DserNamePipe'
          - '\f4c3'
          - '\f53f'
          - '\fullduplex_'
          - '\mojo.5688.8052.183894939787088877'
          - '\mojo.5688.8052.35780273329370473'
          - '\MsFteWds'
          - '\msrpc_'
          - '\mypipe-f'
          - '\mypipe-h'
          - '\ntsvcs'
          - '\PGMessagePipe'
          - '\rpc_'
          - '\scerpc'
          - '\SearchTextHarvester'
          - '\spoolss'
          - '\win_svc'
          - '\win\msrpc_'
          - '\windows.update.manager'
          - '\wkssvc'
    - PipeName:
          - '\demoagent_11'
          - '\demoagent_22'

Stage 2: `selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener`

selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener:
    PipeName|startswith: '\Winsock2\CatalogChangeListener-'
    PipeName|endswith: '-0,'

Stage 3: `not filter_main_generic`

filter_main_generic:
    PipeName:
        - '\wkssvc'
        - '\spoolss'
        - '\scerpc'
        - '\ntsvcs'
        - '\SearchTextHarvester'
        - '\PGMessagePipe'
        - '\MsFteWds'

Stage 4: `not filter_optional_websense`

filter_optional_websense:
    Image|contains:
        - ':\Program Files\Websense\'
        - ':\Program Files (x86)\Websense\'
    PipeName|startswith:
        - '\DserNamePipeR'
        - '\DserNamePipeW'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`PipeName`	eq	`\MsFteWds`
`PipeName`	eq	`\PGMessagePipe`
`PipeName`	eq	`\SearchTextHarvester`
`PipeName`	eq	`\ntsvcs`
`PipeName`	eq	`\scerpc`
`PipeName`	eq	`\spoolss`
`PipeName`	eq	`\wkssvc`
`Image`	match	`:\Program Files (x86)\Websense\`
`Image`	match	`:\Program Files\Websense\`
`PipeName`	starts_with	`\DserNamePipeR`
`PipeName`	starts_with	`\DserNamePipeW`

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
`PipeName`	ends_with	`-0,`
`PipeName`	eq	`\demoagent_11` `\demoagent_22`
`PipeName`	starts_with	`\DserNamePipe` `\MsFteWds` `\PGMessagePipe` `\SearchTextHarvester` `\Winsock2\CatalogChangeListener-` `\f4c3` `\f53f` `\fullduplex_` `\mojo.5688.8052.183894939787088877` `\mojo.5688.8052.35780273329370473` `\msrpc_` `\mypipe-f` `\mypipe-h` `\ntsvcs` `\rpc_` `\scerpc` `\spoolss` `\win\msrpc_` `\win_svc` `\windows.update.manager` `\wkssvc`

`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)

CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_malleable_profile_generic`

Stage 2: `selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener`

Stage 3: `not filter_main_generic`

Stage 4: `not filter_optional_websense`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_malleable_profile_generic

Stage 2: selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener

Stage 3: not filter_main_generic

Stage 4: not filter_optional_websense

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_malleable_profile_generic`

Stage 2: `selection_malleable_profile_catalog_change_listener`

Stage 3: `not filter_main_generic`

Stage 4: `not filter_optional_websense`