Operator Bloopers Cobalt Strike Modules

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: category process_creation, product windows
Author: _pete_0, TheDFIRReport
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects Cobalt Strike module/commands accidentally entered in CMD shell

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1059.003` Command and Scripting Interpreter: Windows Command Shell

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 1: Process creation

Rule body

title: Operator Bloopers Cobalt Strike Modules
id: 4f154fb6-27d1-4813-a759-78b93e0b9c48
related:
    - id: 647c7b9e-d784-4fda-b9a0-45c565a7b729
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects Cobalt Strike module/commands accidentally entered in CMD shell
references:
    - https://hstechdocs.helpsystems.com/manuals/cobaltstrike/current/userguide/content/cobalt-4-5-user-guide.pdf
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2021/10/04/bazarloader-and-the-conti-leaks/
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/06/16/sans-ransomware-summit-2022-can-you-detect-this/
author: _pete_0, TheDFIRReport
date: 2022-05-06
modified: 2023-01-30
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059.003
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - OriginalFileName: 'Cmd.Exe'
        - Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
    selection_cli:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'Invoke-UserHunter'
            - 'Invoke-ShareFinder'
            - 'Invoke-Kerberoast'
            - 'Invoke-SMBAutoBrute'
            - 'Invoke-Nightmare'
            - 'zerologon'
            - 'av_query'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

all of selection_*

Stage 1: `selection_img`

selection_img:
    - OriginalFileName: 'Cmd.Exe'
    - Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_cli`

selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'Invoke-UserHunter'
        - 'Invoke-ShareFinder'
        - 'Invoke-Kerberoast'
        - 'Invoke-SMBAutoBrute'
        - 'Invoke-Nightmare'
        - 'zerologon'
        - 'av_query'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`CommandLine`	match	`Invoke-Kerberoast` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Invoke-Nightmare` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Invoke-SMBAutoBrute` `Invoke-ShareFinder` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Invoke-UserHunter` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `av_query` `zerologon`	`field:"CommandLine" kind:match`
`Image`	ends_with	`\cmd.exe` corpus 130 (sigma 130)	`field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\cmd.exe"`
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`Cmd.Exe` corpus 81 (sigma 43, elastic 21, splunk 17)	`field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"Cmd.Exe"`

Operator Bloopers Cobalt Strike Modules

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Telemetry coverage

Rule body

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_img

Stage 2: selection_cli

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_cli`