Detection rules › Splunk
AnyDesk Command Line Execution (Windows Event Log)
For most users, normal AnyDesk activity is executed via the GUI. This use case detects anydesk.exe calls from cmd.exe or PowerShell.exe. Install commands have been filtered out by default
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Command & Control | T1219 Remote Access Tools |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body yaml
id: '13733.20159'
title: AnyDesk Command Line Execution
description: 'For most users, normal AnyDesk activity is executed via the GUI. This
use case detects anydesk.exe calls from cmd.exe or PowerShell.exe. Install commands
have been filtered out by default. - Threat Actor Association: Alloy Taurus/Gallium,
Gamaredon (aka. Armageddon, UAC-0010), Muddled Libra, Scattered Spider (aka. 0ktapus,
UNC3944), Scatter Swine, UNC2659 - Software Association: Akira, ALPHV/BlackCat,
AvosLocker, BianLian, BlackByte, BumbleBee, Clop, Conti, Diavol, Rhysida, Royal'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_winevent` (TERM(EventCode=4688) OR
"<EventID>4688<" OR Type=Process) TERM(AnyDesk) (TERM(cmd) OR TERM(powershell))
| regex process!="(?i)(install)"| where match(process, "(?i)anydesk.exe") | table
_time, host, user, process, process_* | bin span=1s | stats values(*) as * by _time,
host '
techniques:
- command-and-control:remote access software
technique_id:
- T1219
data_category:
- Windows event logs
- Process command-line parameters
references:
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2022/05/the-blackbyte-ransomware-group-is.html
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_winevent` (TERM(EventCode=4688) OR "<EventID>4688<" OR Type=Process) TERM(AnyDesk) (TERM(cmd) OR TERM(powershell))
Stage 2: regex
| regex process!="(?i)(install)"
Stage 3: where
| where match(process, "(?i)anydesk.exe")
Stage 4: table
| table _time, host, user, process, process_*
Stage 5: bucket
| bin span=1s
Stage 6: stats
| stats values(*) as * by _time, host
Exclusions
Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.
| Field | Kind | Excluded values |
|---|---|---|
process | regex_match | "(?i)(install)" |
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.
Search terms
Bare-string tokens in the SPL search body. Splunk matches each token against _raw (the untyped raw event text) anywhere it appears, not against a specific field. These don't surface in the Indicators table because they aren't predicates on a known field.
| Stage | Term |
|---|---|
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | "<EventID>4688<" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | AnyDesk |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | cmd |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | powershell |