Emerging Threathightest

Potential Pikabot Discovery Activity

Detects system discovery activity carried out by Pikabot, such as incl. network, user info and domain groups. The malware Pikabot has been seen to use this technique as part of its C2-botnet registration with a short collection time frame (less than 1 minute).

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Launch
Andreas Braathen (mnemonic.io)Created Fri Oct 27Updated Fri Jan 26698d4431-514f-4c82-af4d-cf573872a9f52023
Emerging Threat
Active Threat

Developed to detect an active or emerging threat. Prioritize investigation of any alerts and correlate with threat intelligence.

Log Source
WindowsProcess Creation
ProductWindows← raw: windows
CategoryProcess Creation← raw: process_creation

Events generated when a new process is spawned on the system. Covers command-line arguments, parent/child relationships, and process metadata.

Definition

Requirements: By default the process_creation type event might not contain the GrandParentImage. Make sure you collect such fields in order to use this rule

Detection Logic
Detection Logic2 selectors
detection:
    selection_parent:
        - GrandParentImage|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
        - ParentImage|endswith:
              - '\SearchFilterHost.exe'
              - '\SearchProtocolHost.exe'
    selection_child:
        CommandLine:
            # Note: Only add strings as seen used by Pikabot to avoid collision with other strains of malware
            - 'ipconfig.exe /all'
            - 'netstat.exe -aon'
            - 'whoami.exe /all'
    condition: all of selection_*
False Positives
Unlikely

False positives are unlikely for most environments. High confidence detection.

Rule Metadata
Rule ID
698d4431-514f-4c82-af4d-cf573872a9f5
Status
test
Level
high
Type
Emerging Threat
Created
Fri Oct 27
Modified
Fri Jan 26
Path
rules-emerging-threats/2023/Malware/Pikabot/proc_creation_win_malware_pikabot_discovery.yml
Raw Tags
attack.discoveryattack.t1016attack.t1049attack.t1087detection.emerging-threats
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