IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Protocol Activity to the Internet


Description

This rule detects events that use common ports for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to the Internet. IRC is a common protocol that can be used for chat and file transfers. This protocol is also a good candidate for remote control of malware and data transfers to and from a network.

Query · kuery

event.category:(network or network_traffic) and network.transport:tcp and (destination.port:(6667 or 6697) or event.dataset:zeek.irc) and
  source.ip:(
    10.0.0.0/8 or
    172.16.0.0/12 or
    192.168.0.0/16
  ) and
  not destination.ip:(
    10.0.0.0/8 or
    127.0.0.0/8 or
    169.254.0.0/16 or
    172.16.0.0/12 or
    192.168.0.0/16 or
    224.0.0.0/4 or
    "::1" or
    "FE80::/10" or
    "FF00::/8"
  )

Known false positives

  • IRC activity may be normal behavior for developers and engineers but is unusual for non-engineering end users. IRC activity involving an unusual source or destination may be more suspicious. IRC activity involving a production server is often suspicious. Because these ports are in the ephemeral range, this rule may false under certain conditions, such as when a NAT-ed web server replies to a client which has used a port in the range by coincidence. In this case, these servers can be excluded. Some legacy applications may use these ports, but this is very uncommon and usually only appears in local traffic using private IPs, which does not match this rule's conditions.
Raw source IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Protocol Activity to the Internet · Elastic TOML
Esc
Published by elastic/detection-rules ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[metadata]
creation_date = "2020/02/18"
deprecation_date = "2021/04/15"
maturity = "deprecated"
updated_date = "2021/04/15"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
description = """
This rule detects events that use common ports for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to the Internet. IRC is a common protocol
that can be used for chat and file transfers. This protocol is also a good candidate for remote control of malware and
data transfers to and from a network.
"""
false_positives = [
    """
    IRC activity may be normal behavior for developers and engineers but is unusual for non-engineering end users. IRC
    activity involving an unusual source or destination may be more suspicious. IRC activity involving a production
    server is often suspicious. Because these ports are in the ephemeral range, this rule may false under certain
    conditions, such as when a NAT-ed web server replies to a client which has used a port in the range by coincidence.
    In this case, these servers can be excluded. Some legacy applications may use these ports, but this is very uncommon
    and usually only appears in local traffic using private IPs, which does not match this rule's conditions.
    """,
]
from = "now-9m"
index = ["filebeat-*", "packetbeat-*", "logs-endpoint.events.*"]
language = "kuery"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Protocol Activity to the Internet"
risk_score = 47
rule_id = "c6474c34-4953-447a-903e-9fcb7b6661aa"
severity = "medium"
tags = ["Elastic", "Host", "Network", "Threat Detection", "Command and Control"]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "query"

query = '''
event.category:(network or network_traffic) and network.transport:tcp and (destination.port:(6667 or 6697) or event.dataset:zeek.irc) and
  source.ip:(
    10.0.0.0/8 or
    172.16.0.0/12 or
    192.168.0.0/16
  ) and
  not destination.ip:(
    10.0.0.0/8 or
    127.0.0.0/8 or
    169.254.0.0/16 or
    172.16.0.0/12 or
    192.168.0.0/16 or
    224.0.0.0/4 or
    "::1" or
    "FE80::/10" or
    "FF00::/8"
  )
'''


[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"

[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0011"
name = "Command and Control"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/"
[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1048"
name = "Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1048/"


[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0010"
name = "Exfiltration"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0010/"

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