Sigma rule: Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - DNS Client

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-d9ff3ea019f8, updated 2023-01-16T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - DNS Client
Status
test
Level
critical
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-01-16
File
rules/windows/builtin/dns_client/win_dns_client_mal_cobaltstrike.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a program that invoked suspicious DNS queries known from Cobalt Strike beacons

Log source

product
windows
service
dns-client
definition
Requirements: Microsoft-Windows-DNS Client Events/Operational Event Log must be enabled/collected in order to receive the events.

Detection

selection_eid:
    EventID: 3008
selection_query_1:
    QueryName|startswith:
        - 'aaa.stage.'
        - 'post.1'
selection_query_2:
    QueryName|contains: '.stage.123456.'
condition: selection_eid and 1 of selection_query_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.t1071.004
  • attack.command-and-control

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/dns_client/win_dns_client_mal_cobaltstrike.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - DNS Client" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/dns_client/win_dns_client_mal_cobaltstrike.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - DNS Client",
entity page, dataset version ref-d9ff3ea019f8, updated 2023-01-16T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/0d18728b-f5bf-4381-9dcf-915539fff6c2 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 0d18728b-f5bf-4381-9dcf-915539fff6c2, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.