Renamed Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects renamed Visual Studio Code tunnel execution. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Command & Control	`T1071.001` Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols, `T1219` Remote Access Tools

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: Renamed Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution
id: 2cf29f11-e356-4f61-98c0-1bdb9393d6da
status: test
description: Detects renamed Visual Studio Code tunnel execution. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel
references:
    - https://ipfyx.fr/post/visual-studio-code-tunnel/
    - https://badoption.eu/blog/2023/01/31/code_c2.html
    - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/tunnels
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-09-28
modified: 2025-10-29
tags:
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.t1071.001
    - attack.t1219
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_image_only_tunnel:
        OriginalFileName: null
        CommandLine|endswith: '.exe tunnel'
    selection_image_tunnel_args:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - '.exe tunnel'
            - '--accept-server-license-terms'
    selection_image_tunnel_service:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'tunnel '
            - 'service'
            - 'internal-run'
            - 'tunnel-service.log'
    selection_parent_tunnel:
        ParentCommandLine|endswith: ' tunnel'
        Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - '/d /c '
            - '\servers\Stable-'
            - 'code-server.cmd'
    filter_main_parent_code:
        ParentImage|endswith:
            - '\code-tunnel.exe'
            - '\code.exe'
    filter_main_image_code:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\code-tunnel.exe'
            - '\code.exe'
    condition: (1 of selection_image_* and not 1 of filter_main_image_*) or (selection_parent_tunnel and not 1 of filter_main_parent_*)
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

(1 of selection_image_* and not 1 of filter_main_image_*) or (selection_parent_tunnel and not 1 of filter_main_parent_*)

Stage 1: `selection_image_only_tunnel`

selection_image_only_tunnel:
    OriginalFileName: null
    CommandLine|endswith: '.exe tunnel'

Stage 2: `selection_image_tunnel_args`

selection_image_tunnel_args:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - '.exe tunnel'
        - '--accept-server-license-terms'

Stage 3: `selection_image_tunnel_service`

selection_image_tunnel_service:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'tunnel '
        - 'service'
        - 'internal-run'
        - 'tunnel-service.log'

Stage 4: `not filter_main_image_code`

filter_main_image_code:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\code-tunnel.exe'
        - '\code.exe'

Stage 5: `selection_parent_tunnel`

selection_parent_tunnel:
    ParentCommandLine|endswith: ' tunnel'
    Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - '/d /c '
        - '\servers\Stable-'
        - 'code-server.cmd'

Stage 6: `not filter_main_parent_code`

filter_main_parent_code:
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\code-tunnel.exe'
        - '\code.exe'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`Image`	ends_with	`\code-tunnel.exe`
`Image`	ends_with	`\code.exe`
`ParentImage`	ends_with	`\code-tunnel.exe`
`ParentImage`	ends_with	`\code.exe`

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
`CommandLine`	ends_with	`.exe tunnel` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`CommandLine`	match	`--accept-server-license-terms` corpus 4 (sigma 3, splunk 1) `.exe tunnel` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `/d /c` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\servers\Stable-` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `code-server.cmd` corpus 3 (sigma 2, splunk 1) `internal-run` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `service` corpus 5 (sigma 4, splunk 1) `tunnel` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `tunnel-service.log` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`Image`	ends_with	`\cmd.exe` corpus 130 (sigma 130)
`OriginalFileName`	is_null	(no value, null check)
`ParentCommandLine`	ends_with	`tunnel` corpus 2 (sigma 2)

`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)

Renamed Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_image_only_tunnel`

Stage 2: `selection_image_tunnel_args`

Stage 3: `selection_image_tunnel_service`

Stage 4: `not filter_main_image_code`

Stage 5: `selection_parent_tunnel`

Stage 6: `not filter_main_parent_code`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Renamed Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_image_only_tunnel

Stage 2: selection_image_tunnel_args

Stage 3: selection_image_tunnel_service

Stage 4: not filter_main_image_code

Stage 5: selection_parent_tunnel

Stage 6: not filter_main_parent_code

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_image_only_tunnel`

Stage 2: `selection_image_tunnel_args`

Stage 3: `selection_image_tunnel_service`

Stage 4: `not filter_main_image_code`

Stage 5: `selection_parent_tunnel`

Stage 6: `not filter_main_parent_code`