LoFP LoFP / some false positive could occur with some applications that change their default communication port for an added layer of obscurity.

Techniques

Sample rules

Protocol or Port Mismatch

Description

The following analytic identifies network traffic where the higher layer protocol does not match the expected port, such as non-HTTP traffic on TCP port 80. It leverages data from network traffic inspection technologies like Bro or Palo Alto Networks firewalls. This activity is significant because it may indicate attempts to bypass firewall restrictions or conceal malicious communications. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to evade detection, maintain persistence, or exfiltrate data through commonly allowed ports, posing a significant threat to network security.

Detection logic


| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Network_Traffic where (All_Traffic.app=dns NOT All_Traffic.dest_port=53) OR ((All_Traffic.app=web-browsing OR All_Traffic.app=http) NOT (All_Traffic.dest_port=80 OR All_Traffic.dest_port=8080 OR All_Traffic.dest_port=8000)) OR (All_Traffic.app=ssl NOT (All_Traffic.dest_port=443 OR All_Traffic.dest_port=8443)) OR (All_Traffic.app=smtp NOT All_Traffic.dest_port=25) by All_Traffic.src_ip, All_Traffic.dest_ip, All_Traffic.app, All_Traffic.dest_port All_Traffic.transport All_Traffic.action All_Traffic.rule 
|`security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `drop_dm_object_name("All_Traffic")` 
| `protocol_or_port_mismatch_filter`