Detectors
Every Cortex detection rule the toolbox knows about — analytics alerts, BIOCs and correlation rules — in one filterable set.
215 detectors match the current filters. tactic: TA0005 ✕
Download CSV| Type | Name | Severity | Module | Data source / event | ATT&CK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOC | Notepad process makes a network connection Notepad.exe processes should not normally make network connections (with the occasional exception of printing documents). This can be a possible indicator of exploitation, e.g. Metasploit Meterpreter injection. | Low | Platform Analytics | Network | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Office process spawned with suspicious command-line arguments An Office process was executed with LOLBIN-like command-line arguments. This behavior is exhibited in the VBA-RunPE tool that executes executables from the memory of Word/Excel/PowerPoint. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Permissive file privileges were granted Setting readable, writable, and executable permissions for all users may pose a major security risk. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Ping executed with loopback address This seemingly strange "wait" mechanism is often used by malware to stall command execution. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Ping to a known external IP address Pinging a known external IP address is often used by malware to check internet connectivity. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Ping to localhost from an uncommon, unsigned parent process Ping is often used by malware and attackers to delay the execution of suspicious commands in sandbox environments. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible binary padding using dd A suspicious dd command ran and added data to a binary. This may indicate binary padding to change the hash of a file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible code downloading from a remote host by Regsvr32 Regsvr32 may be used to fetch arbitrary code from a remote host and execute it without dropping the payload onto the disk. Known to be used for malicious purposes. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible data obfuscation A command that can be used for file obfuscation was executed with an uncommon command line. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible DCSync from a non domain controller Attackers may pose a compromised host as a DC to replicate data to it (DCSync). | Low | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Credential Access, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible DLL Hijack into a Microsoft process An unsigned DLL was loaded into a Microsoft signed process. This DLL name is usually signed by Microsoft, which might indicate an attacker performing DLL Hijacking. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible DLL Search Order Hijacking An attacker might abuse the Windows DLL search order to trigger known, signed processes to load the attacker's malicious module. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Possible log destruction using the dd command Possible destruction of system log files using the dd command. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible malicious .NET compilation started by a commonly abused process Attackers may use csc.exe to compile payloads on a compromised machine. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | PowerShell is used to execute a CPL file Attackers may use PowerShell.exe to execute a CPL file to achieve Control Panel proxy execution. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | PowerShell is used to modify a timestamp Attackers may use PowerShell.exe to modify the timestamp of a file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Procdump executed from an atypical directory Procdump.exe is a SysInternals tool used to dump process memory; it can be used to dump lsass.exe memory to extract credentials. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion, Credential Access |
| BIOC | Process attempts to kill a known security/AV tool This process has attempted to use taskkill.exe to terminate a known AV process or security analysis tool. Likely attempt to evade detection. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Process runs from the recycle bin Process running from the recycle bin. | Low | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Pubprn.vbs signed script proxy execution Pubprn.vbs is a standard script that is installed with Windows that can be abused to run malicious scripts. This behavior may bypass signature validation restrictions and application whitelisting solutions. | High | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare security product signed executable executed in the network Attackers may attempt to install a security product with a known vulnerability to bypass security features. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare service DLL was added to the registry A service was added as a dll, which will be executed by svchost.exe. This is a stealthy technique attackers use to persist their malware. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion, Persistence |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare signature signed executable executed in the network Attackers may use signed executables by less known vendors to bypass security features. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Registration of Uncommon .NET Services and/or Assemblies Regasm.exe and regsvcs.exe are used to register .NET COM assemblies, which are typically located in specific paths, attackers might leverage that to execute code within a Microsoft signed binary. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Regsvr32 may have run code from an untrusted source Regsvr32 may be used to run arbitrary code by passing the '/i' parameter. The code may also be hosted on a remote host. | High | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Root certificate installed Installation of a root certificate on a compromised system would give an adversary a way to degrade the security of that system. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Root certificate installed Installation of a root certificate on a compromised system would give an adversary a way to degrade the security of that system. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Rundll32 loads a known abused DLL Rundll32.exe is called to execute an arbitrary binary, this execution may also bypass whitelisting defenses as a signed Microsoft application. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Rundll32.exe executes a rare unsigned module Rundll32.exe executes a rare unsigned module, which can indicate an attacker's malicious execution. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Rundll32.exe launches an executable using ordinal numbers argument Rundll32.exe launches an executable using ordinal numbers argument, this behavior may be used by attackers to evade detection. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Rundll32.exe running with no command-line arguments Rundll32.exe is meant to run with parameters, so the absence of them is extremely suspicious; this behavior is used in the default configuration of Cobalt Strike. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Rundll32.exe spawns conhost.exe This unusual parent-child process relationship may indicate that an attacker has abused rundll32.exe to run a console-based application such as PowerShell. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Rundll32.exe was used to run JavaScript Attackers may execute malicious JavaScript code (either remotely or locally) using rundll32.exe. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Rundll32.exe with 'main' as EntryPoint Rundll32.exe ran with 'main' as EntryPoint. Attackers may leverage rundll32.exe to execute malicious functions and DLLs. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Scheduled Task hidden by registry modification Attackers may try to hide a Scheduled Task by deleting the Scheduled Task's software descriptor (SD) value in the registry. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Scripting engine creates an Alternate Data Stream (ADS) Malware may hide data inside alternate data streams instead of inside a file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Security services stopped Attackers may stop security critical services to avoid possible detection of their activities. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Security tools detection attempt A script has executed commands that can be used to detect security tools. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion, Discovery |
| BIOC | SELinux was set to permissive mode SELinux was set to permissive mode using the "setenforce 0" command. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Setuid and Setgid file bit manipulation The setuid or setgid bits were set on a file. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Shell binary copied to another location Attackers may try to evade detection by copying the shell binary to an innocent-looking name. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Signed process performed an unpopular DLL injection A signed process performed an unpopular DLL injection into another process. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Signed process performed an unpopular injection A signed process performed an unpopular injection to another process. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | SmartScreen disabled via Registry These Registry keys control the SmartScreen. Malware may turn it off to evade SmartScreen functionality. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Space after filename A file was created or renamed to have a space at the end of its name. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Space after filename creation An attacker may append a space to the end of a filename to change how it's processed by the operating system. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious .NET process loads an MSBuild DLL A suspicious process in the Microsoft .NET directory loaded the Microsoft Build Framework DLL. This may occur if an attacker masquerades a process like MSBuild (PowerLessShell). | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious .NET process spawns csc.exe A suspicious process in the Microsoft .NET directory spawned the C# compiler. This may occur if an attacker masquerades a process like MSBuild (e.g. PowerLessShell). | Low | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious AMSI decode attempt A script has executed commands that can be used to decode commands or files. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious AMSI DLL load location An attacker may attempt to load a malicious copy of amsi.dll to bypass Microsoft's Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI). | Low | Platform Analytics | Module | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious certutil command line An attacker may use certutil to download malware. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Command and Control, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious data encryption Known applications were used to encrypt data within a machine's local file system. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Impact, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious disablement of the Windows Firewall The Windows Firewall has been disabled. Malware may turn it off to exfiltrate data and communicate with C2 servers. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious disablement of the Windows Firewall using PowerShell commands The Windows Firewall has been disabled using PowerShell. Malware may turn it off to exfiltrate data and communicate with C2 servers. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious DLL load using Control.exe This execution mechanism is known to be used by malware to load malicious DLLs. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious DotNet log file created Payloads that use the DotNet framework may generate suspicious Microsoft DotNet log files. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious executable created in a .NET directory Cmd.exe created an executable file in the Microsoft .NET directory. This behavior is exhibited in the PowerLessShell tool to disguise MSBuild.exe. | High | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious process accessed a site masquerading as Google A suspicious process accessed a site masquerading as Google. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Command and Control, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious process execution from tmp folder An unpopular process was executed from the tmp folder. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious Process Spawned by wininit.exe An unusual process was spawned by wininit.exe, possibly indicating malicious local or remote code execution. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious process spawns MSBuild.exe The Microsoft Build Engine was started by an abnormal process. MSBuild is normally used for development purposes, so this unusual behavior may be malicious. | Medium | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious SearchProtocolHost.exe parent process SearchProtocolHost.exe has been launched from a process that is different from SearchIndexer.exe This may indicate malicious activity (such as malware later being injected to it, or it being used for phantom DLL hijacking). | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Suspicious SSH Downgrade The endpoint asked for an ssh downgrade, ssh downgrade may enable attackers to perform attacks such as data decryption, man in the middle, session hijack, replay attack and more. | Low | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs | Lateral Movement, Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Suspicious usage of cytool.exe The Cortex XDR agent can be controlled by a command-line tool named cytool.exe. Attackers may use it to disable the Cortex XDR agent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Svchost.exe loads a rare unsigned module Svchost.exe loads a rare unsigned module, which can indicate an attacker's malicious service execution. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion, Persistence |
| BIOC | SyncAppvPublishingServer used to run PowerShell code SyncAppvPublishingServer is part of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), which may be used by an attacker to run PowerShell code. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Tampering with Internet Explorer Protected Mode configuration When an add-on is running inside Protected Mode attempts to launch a broker process (or any other program), the ElevationPolicy Registry key is checked to determine how the process should be launched. Internet Explorer will run a broker process with higher rights that can use the current user's permissions to take actions that would otherwise be prohibited when rendering content inside the Protected Mode sandbox. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2009/11/30/understanding-the-protected-mode-elevation-dialog/. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Tampering with the Windows System Restore configuration System Restore was disabled on the endpoint. In such a case, one may not be able to recover files in case of disaster. This may be initiated by the IT department, but also may indicate malicious activity such as ransomware. | Low | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion, Impact |
| Analytics BIOC | Tampering with the Windows User Account Controls (UAC) configuration EnableLUA specifies whether Windows User Account Controls (UAC) notifies the user when programs try to modify the computer. UAC was formerly known as Limited User Account (LUA). | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Tampering with Windows certificate blocking configuration Adding subkeys of the certificates to block disallows a security vendor's certificate on the affected computer, so that Windows would not allow the program to run. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Tampering with Windows Control Panel configuration DLLs with .cpl suffix are executed when accessing the Control Panel. Malicious code may run this way even if AppLocker enabled. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | The Linux system firewall was disabled The system firewall was disabled. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | The scripting engine executed code from an Alternate Data Stream (ADS) Alternate Data Streams (ADSs) are NTFS Master File Table (MFT) data entries that relate to a file, but are separate from its contents. An attacker may try to evade detection by executing malware from the ADS value of a file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon AppleScript containing a potential obfuscation technique was executed The AppleScript interpreter process was executed with an obfuscation technique in the command line. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon attempt to clear shell history An attempt to clear or manipulate shell history files was detected. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon DLL-sideloading from a logical CD-ROM (ISO) device A DLL was loaded by an executable from the same folder on a logical CD-ROM device (ISO). | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution, Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon DotNet module load relationship A signed process that usually doesn't use DotNet loaded a common DotNet module. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon driver loaded An uncommon driver loaded which may be an attempt to kill the EDR or install rootkit. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon execution of ODBCConf Attackers may abuse the Odbcconf.exe Windows utility to proxy the execution of malicious DLL files. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon kernel module load Loading of a kernel module using the modprobe command. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon msiexec execution of an arbitrary file from a remote location Msiexec is the command-line utility for the Windows Installer. Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to proxy execution of malicious payloads from remote locations. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Uncommon NtWriteVirtualMemoryRemote API invocation with a PE header buffer A process wrote a PE header to another process by calling the NtWriteVirtualMemoryRemote API function. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation |
| Analytics BIOC | Unicode RTL Override Character An attacker may use a special right-to-left (RTL) override character to trick users into executing malicious files that look like benign file types. | High | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unpopular rsync process execution An unpopular rsync process was executed on the host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unsigned and unpopular process performed a DLL injection An unsigned process with low popularity injected a dll into another process. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unsigned and unpopular process performed an injection An unsigned process with low popularity injected code to another process. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unsigned DLL Hijack into a Microsoft process An unsigned DLL was loaded into a Microsoft signed process. It is not common for the DLL to be loaded into Microsoft processes, which might indicate an attacker performing DLL Hijacking. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unsigned DLL Side-Loading A signed process loaded an unsigned and rare module from the same folder. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Unsigned process creates an Alternate Data Stream (ADS) Alternate Data Streams (ADSs) are NTFS Master File Table (MFT) data entries that relate to a file, but are separate from its contents. Malware may attempt to evade discovery by placing their payload in an ADS. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unsigned process injecting into a Windows system binary with no command line An attacker may be trying to avoid detection by injecting their malicious code into a legitimate Windows system binary. | Medium | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation |
| BIOC | Unsigned process injects code into a process An unsigned process injected code into a process. This can be done to leverage a legitimate running process for an attack. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Remote code | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Unsigned process running from a temporary directory Malware often runs from a temporary folder. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unusual Lolbins Process Spawned by InstallUtil.exe An unusual process was spawned by InstallUtil.exe, possibly indicating malicious local or remote code execution. | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Unusual Netsh PortProxy rule Attackers may use Netsh PortProxy rules as part of malicious actions performed in an organizational network (e.g., for tunneling). | Low | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion, Command and Control |
| Analytics BIOC | Unusual use of a 'SysInternals' tool An attacker may be trying to avoid detection by using an obfuscated copy of SysInternals tools. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Usage of tracing tool An attacker may be trying to use a known tracing tool to gather information from other processes. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | User account flagged as hidden Look for unsigned processes that add an entry to the hidden users Registry key. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | VM Detection attempt A script has executed commands that can be used to detect VM environments. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Defense Evasion, Discovery |
| Analytics BIOC | VM Detection attempt on Linux A Process executed a command and/or accessed a file that can be used to detect VM environments. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion, Discovery |
| Analytics BIOC | Weakly-Encrypted Kerberos TGT Response A weakly encrypted Kerberos TGT was issued by a domain controller. The encryption type is abnormal for this DC and results in a TGT that is easier to crack. This behavior may indicate a Skeleton Key attack. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent | Credential Access, Defense Evasion, Persistence |