RDP over Reverse SSH Tunnel WFP

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, service security
Author: Samir Bousseaden
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects svchost hosting RDP termsvcs communicating with the loopback address

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Lateral Movement	`T1021.001` Remote Services: Remote Desktop Protocol
Command & Control	`T1090.001` Proxy: Internal Proxy, `T1090.002` Proxy: External Proxy

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Security-Auditing	Event ID 5156	The Windows Filtering Platform has permitted a connection.

Rule body yaml

title: RDP over Reverse SSH Tunnel WFP
id: 5bed80b6-b3e8-428e-a3ae-d3c757589e41
status: test
description: Detects svchost hosting RDP termsvcs communicating with the loopback address
references:
    - https://twitter.com/SBousseaden/status/1096148422984384514
    - https://github.com/sbousseaden/EVTX-ATTACK-SAMPLES/blob/44fbe85f72ee91582876b49678f9a26292a155fb/Command%20and%20Control/DE_RDP_Tunnel_5156.evtx
author: Samir Bousseaden
date: 2019-02-16
modified: 2022-09-02
tags:
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.lateral-movement
    - attack.t1090.001
    - attack.t1090.002
    - attack.t1021.001
    - car.2013-07-002
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: security
detection:
    selection:
        EventID: 5156
    sourceRDP:
        SourcePort: 3389
        DestAddress:
            - '127.*'
            - '::1'
    destinationRDP:
        DestPort: 3389
        SourceAddress:
            - '127.*'
            - '::1'
    filter_app_container:
        FilterOrigin: 'AppContainer Loopback'
    filter_thor:  # checking BlueKeep vulnerability
        Application|endswith:
            - '\thor.exe'
            - '\thor64.exe'
    condition: selection and ( sourceRDP or destinationRDP ) and not 1 of filter*
falsepositives:
    - Programs that connect locally to the RDP port
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and ( sourceRDP or destinationRDP ) and not 1 of filter*

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    EventID: 5156

Stage 2: `sourceRDP`

sourceRDP:
    SourcePort: 3389
    DestAddress:
        - '127.*'
        - '::1'

Stage 3: `destinationRDP`

destinationRDP:
    DestPort: 3389
    SourceAddress:
        - '127.*'
        - '::1'

Stage 4: `not filter*`

filter_app_container:
    FilterOrigin: 'AppContainer Loopback'
filter_thor:
    Application|endswith:
        - '\thor.exe'
        - '\thor64.exe'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`Application`	ends_with	`\thor.exe`
`Application`	ends_with	`\thor64.exe`
`FilterOrigin`	eq	`AppContainer Loopback`

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
`DestAddress`	wildcard	`127.*` `::1`
`DestPort`	eq	`3389` corpus 11 (kusto 4, elastic 3, sigma 2, splunk 2)
`SourceAddress`	wildcard	`127.*` `::1` corpus 6 (sigma 5, elastic 1)
`SourcePort`	eq	`3389` corpus 3 (sigma 3)

`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)

RDP over Reverse SSH Tunnel WFP

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `sourceRDP`

Stage 3: `destinationRDP`

Stage 4: `not filter*`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

RDP over Reverse SSH Tunnel WFP

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Stage 2: sourceRDP

Stage 3: destinationRDP

Stage 4: not filter*

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `sourceRDP`

Stage 3: `destinationRDP`

Stage 4: `not filter*`