Sigma rule: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-af1836ec9c0f, updated 2025-10-29T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution
Status: test
Level: medium
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), citron_ninja
Date: 2023-10-25
Modified: 2025-10-29
File: rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vscode_tunnel_execution.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects Visual Studio Code tunnel execution. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel

Log source

product: windows
category: process_creation

Detection

selection_only_tunnel:
    OriginalFileName: null
    CommandLine|endswith: '.exe tunnel'
selection_tunnel_args:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - '.exe tunnel'
        - '--accept-server-license-terms'
selection_parent_tunnel:
    ParentCommandLine|endswith: ' tunnel'
    Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - '/d /c '
        - '\servers\Stable-'
        - 'code-server.cmd'
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Legitimate use of Visual Studio Code tunnel

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/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vscode_tunnel_execution.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), citron_ninja (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_vscode_tunnel_execution.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: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-af1836ec9c0f, updated 2025-10-29T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/90d6bd71-dffb-4989-8d86-a827fedd6624 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 90d6bd71-dffb-4989-8d86-a827fedd6624, 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.