Sigma rule: Tunneling Tool Execution

Rule

Title

Tunneling Tool Execution

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community

Date

2019-10-24

Modified

2024-01-18

File

rules-threat-hunting/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_exfil_and_tunneling_tool_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of well known tools that can be abused for data exfiltration and tunneling.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\httptunnel.exe'
        - '\plink.exe'
        - '\socat.exe'
        - '\stunnel.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administrators using one of these tools

Tags

• attack.exfiltration
• attack.command-and-control
• attack.t1041
• attack.t1572
• attack.t1071.001
• detection.threat-hunting

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1041
• T1071.001
• T1572

References

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/07/26/malicious-iis-extensions-quietly-open-persistent-backdoors-into-servers/

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