Sigma rule: New Firewall Rule Added Via Netsh.EXE

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-9d9b3538bc7d, updated 2023-02-10T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
New Firewall Rule Added Via Netsh.EXE
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Markus Neis, Sander Wiebing
Date
2019-01-29
Modified
2023-02-10
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_netsh_fw_add_rule.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the addition of a new rule to the Windows firewall via netsh

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\netsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'netsh.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ' firewall '
        - ' add '
filter_optional_dropbox:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'advfirewall firewall add rule name=Dropbox dir=in action=allow "program=?:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe" enable=yes profile=Any'
        - 'advfirewall firewall add rule name=Dropbox dir=in action=allow "program=?:\Program Files\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe" enable=yes profile=Any'
condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Legitimate administration activity
  • Software installations

Tags

  • attack.defense-impairment
  • attack.t1686.003
  • attack.s0246

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_netsh_fw_add_rule.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "New Firewall Rule Added Via Netsh.EXE" by Markus Neis, Sander Wiebing (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_netsh_fw_add_rule.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: New Firewall Rule Added Via Netsh.EXE",
entity page, dataset version ref-9d9b3538bc7d, updated 2023-02-10T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/cd5cfd80-aa5f-44c0-9c20-108c4ae12e3c (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule cd5cfd80-aa5f-44c0-9c20-108c4ae12e3c, 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.