Detectors
Every Cortex detection rule the toolbox knows about — analytics alerts, BIOCs and correlation rules — in one filterable set.
474 detectors match the current filters.
Download CSV| Type | Name | Severity | Module | Data source / event | ATT&CK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOC | Modifying ELF file capabilities via setcap An attacker may attempt to gain privileges by setting the capabilities of a file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Privilege Escalation |
| BIOC | Mounted NFS share discovery Attackers may use the showmount command to list mount Network File Sharing shares. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | MSBuild execution Attackers may use MSBuild.exe to proxy execution of code through a trusted Windows utility. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | MSI accessed a web page running a server-side script The Microsoft installer command line included a URL to a web page running a server-side script, which is suspicious. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics BIOC | Msiexec execution of an executable from an uncommon 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. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Defense Evasion |
| Analytics | Multiple alerts associated with a single RDP connection Multiple alerts associated with a single RDP connection were triggered. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Platform Alerts, Third-Party Alerts | Lateral Movement |
| Analytics | Multiple discovery commands on a Linux host by the same process The alerted process performed multiple consecutive discovery commands in a short timeframe. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Discovery |
| Analytics | Multiple discovery-like commands The alerted process performed multiple consecutive discovery commands in a short time frame. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Discovery |
| BIOC | Netcat shell via named pipe Attackers may create a Netcat shell using a named pipe to remotely access the endpoint. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | Netrc file enumeration Enumeration commands such as test and cat were executed on .netrc file paths that contain credentials. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Netsh.exe modifies allowed firewall port/program lists Malware will often modify local firewall settings to permit untrusted software to communicate with the Internet for C2. Check for malicious use. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Network Packet Capture: tshark/tcpdump Network packet capture using tshark\tcpdump utility. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Network scanning tool executed This rule looks for the string nmap in the command line, which indicates that the nmap scanning tool is used to scan a network or a machine. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | New certificate added to the trusted root store Untrusted certificates could be used to install untrusted drivers and malicious code. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | New entry added to startup related Registry keys by unsigned process Entries added to the "Run Keys" in the Registry or the startup folder will cause the program to be executed when the user logs in. The program will be executed in the context of the user and will have his permissions level. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | New service created via command line Attackers may leverage services to gain persistence on an endpoint. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Persistence |
| BIOC | Non-browser process downloads content from GitHub Check for possible attempts to use GitHub as a malicious payload deployment mechanism. This technique is known to be used frequently by threat actors to serve malicious scripts/payloads. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Network | Command and Control |
| Analytics | NTLM Relay An NTLM NTProofStr was seen from more than one source. This indicates that NTLM authentication data has been relayed. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent | Credential Access, Lateral Movement |
| BIOC | Office document embeds a .LNK file An Office process spawned a process with an argument indicating that the document contains an embedded .LNK file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Initial Access |
| BIOC | Office process spawns verclsid.exe A Microsoft Office process launching verclsid.exe may be a sign of phishing. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Initial Access |
| BIOC | Office process writes an executable file to disk An executable file was written by a Microsoft Office application to disk. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Execution |
| BIOC | Outlook creates an executable file on disk Common weaponized Office document behavior, as Outlook should not create binary files at all. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Initial Access |
| BIOC | Password complexity enumeration Attackers may read system files containing password complexity requirements. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Password policy discovery via command-line tool Attackers may use chage to list the password policy and the user's last access time. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Password-related Mozilla files were read by a non-Mozilla process Adversaries may acquire credentials from web browsers by reading files specific to the target browser. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Credential Access |
| Analytics BIOC | Permission Groups discovery commands Permission group discovery command execution. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Discovery |
| BIOC | Permission groups discovery via ldapsearch Attackers may use the ldapsearch command-line tool to gather information about domain groups and their permissions. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| 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 | Persistence through service registration An attacker may add or modify system services to persist on a host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | Persistence using bashrc files Possible persistency using shell (bash\csh) profile files. Commands in ~/.bashrc are executed on every new shell execution. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | Persistence using cron jobs Cron jobs are tasks to be executed sometime in the future, and could be used to persist malware. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | Persistence via Registry screensaver key change Attackers may install their malware persistently by modifying the value of the screensaver Registry key. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Pluggable Authentication Modules Access Access to Pluggable Authentication Modules. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Pluggable Authentication Modules Modification Modification of Pluggable Authentication Modules. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Credential Access |
| Analytics | Port Scan The endpoint connected, or attempted to connect, to multiple privileged ports, which are infrequently used by other endpoints (i.e. destination ports that are normally used by many endpoints will not raise this alert). Attackers perform port scans for reconnaissance purposes, to find computers or servers that accept connections on these ports, and to find vulnerable services that can be exploited. Coverage for port scans using data arriving solely from Cortex agents is incomplete. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, Third-Party Firewalls | Discovery |
| Analytics | Port Sweep The endpoint connected, or attempted to connect, to multiple hosts using privileged ports that serve a well-defined function. Attackers perform port sweep for reconnaissance purposes, to find computers or servers that accept connections on these ports, and to find vulnerable services that can be exploited. Coverage for port sweeps using data arriving solely from Cortex agents is incomplete. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent, Third-Party Firewalls | Discovery |
| BIOC | Possible ARP reconnaissance The ARP binary could be used for network mapping (common with malware). | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Possible ARP reconnaissance via netdiscover Netdiscover is an active/passive ARP reconnaissance tool, which attackers may use to learn your network. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| 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 | Possible brute force on sudo user A user executed an unusual amount of sudo commands in a short time period. This may indicate an attempt to guess the sudo password. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Possible data destruction via dd Attackers may use dd to zero out or write random data to files. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Impact |
| 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 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 Email collection using Outlook RPC Outlook was executed using RPC by an uncommon parent process, this may be an indication of email collection activities. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Collection |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible IPFS traffic was detected The host attempted to access other nodes in an IPFS manner. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent | Exfiltration, Initial Access |
| Analytics | Possible LDAP enumeration by unsigned process An unsigned process performed multiple different LDAP search queries. This may be indicative of LDAP enumeration. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Discovery |
| 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 use of a networking driver for network sniffing A process wrote a known networking driver with network sniffing capabilities to disk, attackers can use it to sniff passwords and other credentials from the network. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Credential Access, Discovery |
| Analytics BIOC | Possible use of IPFS was detected The host produced traffic consistent with IPFS. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent | Exfiltration, Initial Access |
| BIOC | Possible user enumeration via /etc/passwd Attackers may enumerate users by reading the /etc/passwd file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Possible user enumeration via finger The Linux 'finger' command performs user enumeration, which attackers may attempt to gather during the reconnaissance phase. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Possible web shell command execution Possible command execution via a web shell for reconnaissance. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Persistence |
| BIOC | Possible XDG autostart persistency Possible persistency gained by writing or creating a desktop file inside the xdg autostart directory. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | Potential Network Sniffing Network sniffing related processes were detected. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access, Discovery |
| BIOC | Potential web shell installation A web-app script file was installed on a web server. This can indicate an installation of web shell. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | PowerShell calling Invoke-Expression argument These PowerShell arguments are often used to run commands with malicious intent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| 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 | PowerShell pfx certificate extraction PowerShell was used to extract a pfx certificate file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Credential Access |
| BIOC | PowerShell possibly attempting to execute as administrator This PowerShell argument is often used to run commands with malicious intent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | PowerShell running with download in the command line PowerShell can be used to download malicious content from the internet. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | PowerShell script executed from a temporary directory An attacker may try to avoid detection by executing a PowerShell script from a temporary directory. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Collection |
| BIOC | Print spooler set to load new DLL on boot Malware can use this technique to load malicious code at startup that will persist on system reboot. This DLL must be located in C:\Windows\System32 and will be loaded by the print spooler service, spoolsv.exe, on boot. A port monitor can be set through the AddMonitor API. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | PsExec attempts to execute a command on a remote host PsExec is a SysInternals tool used to execute commands on remote hosts. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Network | Lateral Movement, Execution |
| BIOC | PsExec executed with plain-text credentials on the command line PsExec.exe is a Windows administrative tool, which may be used by adversaries to execute remote commands. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | PsExec execution EulaAccepted flag added to the Registry PsExec is commonly used by malware for lateral movement, seeing this value in the Registry means that the user ran PsExec and approved the EULA either automatically or manually. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Lateral Movement, Execution |
| BIOC | PsExec runs with System privileges PsExec.exe is a Windows administrative tool, it can be used to elevate privileges and run other processes with NT/System privilege level. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Privilege Escalation |
| Analytics BIOC | PsExec was executed with a suspicious command line PsExec.exe was executed. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution, Privilege Escalation |
| BIOC | Psexesvc.exe executes a command from a remote host Psexesvc.exe executes to run a command received from a remote host via PsExec. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| Analytics BIOC | Python HTTP server started Python HTTP server started - possible exfiltration over HTTP. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Exfiltration |
| BIOC | Query startup programs using wmic.exe Attackers may use wmic.exe to query programs that run automatically when users log onto the computer system. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery, Execution |
| BIOC | Rar.exe execution with password protection parameters Rar.exe was executed with parameters indicating password protection of the output file. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Collection |
| Analytics | Rare access to known advertising domains The endpoint performed many connections to unpopular advertising domains. This could indicate the presence of adware on the endpoint. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent | Command and Control, Persistence |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare AppID usage to a rare destination Rare AppID with port usage to rare destination. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent, Third-Party Firewalls | Command and Control |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare connection to external IP address or host by an application using RMI-IIOP or LDAP protocol A process made a connection to an external IP address or host that is rarely connected to by the organization. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Url Logs | Command and Control |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare DCOM RPC activity The endpoint performed abnormal DCOM RPC activity to a remote host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Lateral Movement |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare MS-Update Server was detected The endpoint requested an MS-Update operation from a rare update server. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs | Initial Access |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare MS-Update traffic over HTTP The endpoint requested an MS-Update operation with abnormal HTTP traffic characteristics. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent | Lateral Movement |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare process accessed a Keychain file An unusual process accessed a Keychain file. This might indicate a credential-grabbing attempt. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Credential Access |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare process spawned by srvany.exe Unusual process spawned by srvany.exe, which allows applications to run as services with system privileges, this might be an indication of malicious local or remote code execution. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC activity The endpoint performed abnormal RPC activity via Service Control Manager interface to a remote host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Lateral Movement |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare scheduled task created A new rare scheduled task was created with a rare path and a rare command line. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Persistence |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare Scheduled Task RPC activity The endpoint performed abnormal Scheduled Task RPC activity to a remote host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs, XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH) | Lateral Movement, 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 | Rare SMTP/S Session The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and its SSL-secured variant SMTPS are used to send email. Attackers can use SMTP/S to exfiltrate data from your network. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Palo Alto Networks Firewall traffic Logs, XDR Agent, Third-Party Firewalls | Exfiltration |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare Unix process divided files by size A file was divided into sub-files by size limit by a rare process. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Exfiltration |
| Analytics BIOC | Rare WinRM Session Windows Remote Management (WinRM) enables users to interact with remote systems in different ways, including running executables on the remote system. WinRM sessions can be established using WinRM/WinRS commands or programs such as PowerShell. Attackers can use WinRM to execute code and move laterally within a compromised network. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Lateral Movement |
| BIOC | RDP connections enabled via Registry from a script host or rundll32.exe An attacker may enable RDP connections to a machine by setting the fDenyTSConnections Registry key to 0. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Lateral Movement |
| BIOC | Reading .ssh files Attackers may gather SSH keys (typically found in the ~/.ssh/ directory) to later use to authenticate with remote SSH servers. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Reading the contents of /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab File read on /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab using the cat utility. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| 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 | Registry credentials extraction Attackers may extract credentials from the Registry using system commands. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| Analytics BIOC | Remote code execution into Kubernetes Pod A container administration service was used to execute commands within a Kubernetes Pod. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Execution |
| BIOC | Remote file copy Remote copy operation of a file using rsync or scp or sftp. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Lateral Movement |
| Analytics BIOC | Remote PsExec-like command execution A remotely triggered service initiated a command execution in a PsExec-like manner by a host that rarely triggers services to other remote hosts. | Informational | Platform Analytics | XDR Agent | Lateral Movement, Execution |
| BIOC | Remote RDP session enumeration via query.exe Attackers may use the built-in query.exe tool to enumerate remote sessions, using the session flag. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Lateral Movement |
| BIOC | Remote RDP session enumeration via qwinsta.exe Attackers may use the built-in qwinsta.exe tool to enumerate remote sessions. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Lateral Movement |