Windows App Layer Protocol Qakbot NamedPipe

name: Windows App Layer Protocol Qakbot NamedPipe
id: 63a2c15e-9448-43c5-a4a8-9852266aaada
version: 10
creation_date: '2022-10-28'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects a suspicious process creating or connecting to a potential Qakbot named pipe. It leverages Sysmon EventCodes 17 and 18, focusing on specific processes known to be abused by Qakbot and identifying randomly generated named pipes in GUID form. This activity is significant as Qakbot malware uses named pipes for inter-process communication after code injection, facilitating data theft. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could indicate a Qakbot infection, leading to unauthorized data access and potential exfiltration from the compromised host.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 17
    - Sysmon EventID 18
search: '`sysmon` EventCode IN (17, 18) EventType IN ( "CreatePipe", "ConnectPipe") Image IN ("*\\calc.exe", "*\\notepad.exe", "*\\rdpclip.exe", "*\\explorer.exe", "*\\wermgr.exe", "*\\ping.exe", "*\\OneDriveSetup.exe", "*\\dxdiag.exe", "*\\mobsync.exe", "*\\msra.exe", "*\\xwizard.exe") | regex PipeName="^\\\{[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{8}" | stats  min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by dest dvc pipe_name process_exec process_guid process_id process_name process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product Image PipeName | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_app_layer_protocol_qakbot_namedpipe_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, pipename, processguid and named pipe event type from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://strontic.github.io/xcyclopedia/library/wermgr.exe-0F652BF7ADA772981E8AAB0D108FCC92.html
    - https://www.trellix.com/en-us/about/newsroom/stories/research/demystifying-qbot-malware.html
    - https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/qbot-malware-analysis
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: $Image$ is creating or connecting to a named pipe $PipeName$ on $dest$
analytic_story:
    - Qakbot
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1071
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint