Detectors
Every Cortex detection rule the toolbox knows about — analytics alerts, BIOCs and correlation rules — in one filterable set.
255 detectors match the current filters.
Download CSV| Type | Name | Severity | Module | Data source / event | ATT&CK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOC | Manipulation of Windows Event Log auto-backup via Registry This key enables/disables the automatic backups of event logs when they are full. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Manipulation of Winlogon 'Notify' autostart Registry key Since Winlogon handles the Secure Attention Sequence (SAS) (Ctrl+Alt+Del), notify subkeys found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify are used to notify event handles when SAS happens and load a DLL. This DLL can be edited to launch whenever such a SAS event occurs. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | Microsoft HTML Application Host spawns from CMD or PowerShell Microsoft HTML Application Host is a program whose source code consists of HTML, Dynamic HTML and a few scripting languages compatible with Internet Explorer such as VBScript or JScript. It does not typically spawn from PowerShell or CMD. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Microsoft HTML Application Host spawns from Explorer.exe Mshta allows execution of .hta files, an attacker can use mshta to execute malicious hta files on the victim's host. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Microsoft Office executes an unsigned process in a suspicious directory Microsoft Office executed an unsigned process in a suspicious directory. This behavior is common with malicious macros. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | Microsoft Office process spawns a commonly abused process Common weaponized office document behavior. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | Microsoft Office process spawns an unsigned process Common weaponized office document behavior. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | Microsoft Office spawns curl/wget on a macOS device Microsoft Office Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook spawn wget/curl on a macOS device. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Exfiltration |
| BIOC | Modification of default Windows startup path via Registry An attacker may modify the startup path to the location of the malware. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | Modification of systemd service files An attacker may create or modify systemd service unit files to establish persistence between reboots. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence |
| BIOC | Modification of the Winlogon\Shell Registry key Malware may modify the Winlogon\Shell Registry value to load itself instead of explorer.exe, which is the default system shell. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | Modification of Windows boot configuration using bcdedit.exe BCDEdit is a Microsoft Windows utility that can modify boot parameters. It is usually used as part of an attack to prevent repair of the affected system by disabling booting in recovery mode. It can also be used to stop Windows' Patchguard from objecting to the unsigned and insecure nature of a driver being loaded. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion, Impact |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Possible log destruction using the dd command Possible destruction of system log files using the dd command. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Defense Evasion |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Registry credentials extraction Attackers may extract credentials from the Registry using system commands. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Remote file copy Remote copy operation of a file using rsync or scp or sftp. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Lateral Movement |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Remote system discovery Remote system discovery using a system utility. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |
| BIOC | Reverse shell one-liner using a scripting engine An attacker may use scripting engines to execute code from the command line to open a reverse shell. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| BIOC | Reverse shell using PowerShell PowerShell can start a reverse shell console for attackers using these commands and take control of the machine. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Execution |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Screen capture via command-line tool Attackers may use the window system screen capture tool to collect screenshots. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Collection |
| BIOC | Scripting engine creates a compressed file under a suspicious folder Attackers may compress data before exfiltrating it to reduce network bandwidth consumption; if a compressed file is placed in a suspicious folder, it may be due to malicious activity. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Collection |
| 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 | Scripting engine makes connections over DNS ports Scripting engine makes connections over DNS ports should not happen, as DNS traffic is typically managed by svchost and sometimes the browsers. Attackers are known to use DNS traffic to exfiltrate data and avoid detection. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Network | Exfiltration |
| BIOC | Scripting process reads Outlook data files Attackers may try to retrieve email data and sensitive information from .ost and .pst files. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Collection |
| BIOC | Security services stopped Attackers may stop security critical services to avoid possible detection of their activities. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Defense Evasion |
| BIOC | Security Support Provider (SSP) registered via a registry key Security Support Provider (SSP) exposes a number of callbacks to be invoked during certain authentication and authorization events. An attacker may register SSP to try and gain access to clear text passwords. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Privilege Escalation |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Setuid on file Setting user identification on an executable file causes it to run with the privileges of the owning user. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Privilege Escalation |
| BIOC | Shared resource management discovery using wmic.exe Attackers may use wmic.exe to discover shared resource management information. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery, Execution |
| 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 |
| BIOC | Shell History Access Access to files holding shell history information. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Credential Access, Collection |
| BIOC | Shell history access Attackers may search historical commands for credentials and information gathering. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access |
| BIOC | Shell History Access Access to files holding shell history information. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Credential Access, Collection |
| BIOC | Shim database file access An attacker may install a malicious SDB (shim database) file on disk for privilege escalation and persistence. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Persistence, Privilege Escalation |
| BIOC | Shim database registration via Registry Application shim databases may be leveraged for privilege escalation and persistence, and can be installed by modifying the Registry. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Registry | Persistence |
| BIOC | Shutdown command issued This behavior is often observed by malware attempting to force a machine shutdown after a period of time once file encryption has completed. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Impact |
| BIOC | Simulation activity by AttackIQ Simulation activity performed by AttackIQ agent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Execution, Resource Development |
| BIOC | Simulation activity by Cymulate Simulation activity performed by Cymulate agent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Execution, Resource Development |
| BIOC | Simulation activity by SafeBreach Simulation activity performed by a SafeBreach agent. | Informational | Platform Analytics | File | Execution, Resource Development |
| 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 |
| BIOC | SMB enumeration via command-line tool Attackers may use SMB enumeration to retrieve information about network shares, printers, and other resources. | Informational | Platform Analytics | Process execution | Discovery |