Detection rules › Sigma

New Network Trace Capture Started Via Netsh.EXE

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
category process_creation, product windows
Author
Kutepov Anton, oscd.community
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the execution of netsh with the "trace" flag in order to start a network capture

Known false positives

  • Legitimate administration activity

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Credential Access
Discovery

Telemetry coverage

ProviderRecord / event type
SysmonEvent ID 1: Process creation

Rule body

title: New Network Trace Capture Started Via Netsh.EXE
id: d3c3861d-c504-4c77-ba55-224ba82d0118
status: test
description: Detects the execution of netsh with the "trace" flag in order to start a network capture
references:
    - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/canberrapfe/2012/03/30/capture-a-network-trace-without-installing-anything-capture-a-network-trace-of-a-reboot/
    - https://klausjochem.me/2016/02/03/netsh-the-cyber-attackers-tool-of-choice/
author: Kutepov Anton, oscd.community
date: 2019-10-24
modified: 2023-02-13
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1040
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\netsh.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'netsh.exe'
    selection_cli:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'trace'
            - 'start'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration activity
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

all of selection_*

Stage 1: selection_img

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\netsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'netsh.exe'

Stage 2: selection_cli

selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'trace'
        - 'start'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

FieldKindValuesSearch
CommandLinematch
  • start corpus 13 (sigma 11, splunk 2)
  • trace corpus 2 (sigma 2)
field:"CommandLine" kind:match
Imageends_with
  • \netsh.exe corpus 28 (sigma 28)
field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\netsh.exe"
OriginalFileNameeq
  • netsh.exe corpus 23 (sigma 14, splunk 7, elastic 2)
field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"netsh.exe"