Techniques
Sample rules
Potential Command and Control via Internet Explorer
- source: elastic
- technicques:
- T1071
- T1559
Description
Identifies instances of Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe) being started via the Component Object Model (COM) making unusual network connections. Adversaries could abuse Internet Explorer via COM to avoid suspicious processes making network connections and bypass host-based firewall restrictions.
Detection logic
sequence by host.id, user.name with maxspan = 5s
[library where host.os.type == "windows" and dll.name : "IEProxy.dll" and process.name : ("rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe")]
[process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.parent.name : "iexplore.exe" and process.parent.args : "-Embedding"]
/* IE started via COM in normal conditions makes few connections, mainly to Microsoft and OCSP related domains, add FPs here */
[network where host.os.type == "windows" and network.protocol == "dns" and process.name : "iexplore.exe" and
not dns.question.name :
(
"*.microsoft.com",
"*.digicert.com",
"*.msocsp.com",
"*.windowsupdate.com",
"*.bing.com",
"*.identrust.com",
"*.sharepoint.com",
"*.office365.com",
"*.office.com"
)
] /* with runs=5 */