Sigma rule: Path Traversal Exploitation Attempts

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-aef399653cf2, updated 2023-08-31T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Path Traversal Exploitation Attempts
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Subhash Popuri (@pbssubhash), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Thurein Oo, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2021-09-25
Modified
2023-08-31
File
rules/web/webserver_generic/web_path_traversal_exploitation_attempt.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects path traversal exploitation attempts

Log source

category
webserver

Detection

selection:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
        - '../../../../../lib/password'
        - '../../../../windows/'
        - '../../../etc/'
        - '..%252f..%252f..%252fetc%252f'
        - '..%c0%af..%c0%af..%c0%afetc%c0%af'
        - '%252e%252e%252fetc%252f'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Expected to be continuously seen on systems exposed to the Internet
  • Internal vulnerability scanners

Tags

  • attack.initial-access
  • attack.t1190

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

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/web/webserver_generic/web_path_traversal_exploitation_attempt.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Path Traversal Exploitation Attempts" by Subhash Popuri (@pbssubhash), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Thurein Oo, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/web/webserver_generic/web_path_traversal_exploitation_attempt.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: Path Traversal Exploitation Attempts",
entity page, dataset version ref-aef399653cf2, updated 2023-08-31T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7745c2ea-24a5-4290-b680-04359cb84b35 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7745c2ea-24a5-4290-b680-04359cb84b35, 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.