ET HUNTING Dotted Quad Host Base64-Encoded Powershell Payload

Query · suricata

flow:established,to_client;
flowbits:isset,http.dottedquadhost;
http.stat_code;
content:"200";
http.response_body;
content:"frombase64string"; fast_pattern; distance:0; nocase;
content:"iex"; distance:0; nocase;
target:dest_ip;

Rule dependencies

⚠ Higher-order rule. It fires on other rules' alerts, not on raw events, so it cannot fire on its own. Deploy the rules it depends on too.

Depends on

Raw source ET HUNTING Dotted Quad Host Base64-Encoded Powershell Payload · Suricata
Esc
Published by Emerging Threats Open ↗, licensed under BSD 3-Clause ↗. Line breaks added for readability; the rule is otherwise unchanged. 
alert http $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET any (
    msg:"ET HUNTING Dotted Quad Host Base64-Encoded Powershell Payload";
    flow:established,to_client;
    flowbits:isset,http.dottedquadhost;
    http.stat_code;
    content:"200";
    http.response_body;
    content:"frombase64string"; fast_pattern; distance:0; nocase;
    content:"iex"; distance:0; nocase;
    reference:url,www.huntress.com/blog/malware-deep-dive-examining-a-powershell-payload;
    classtype:trojan-activity;
    sid:2063007; rev:1;
    metadata:affected_product Windows_XP_Vista_7_8_10_Server_32_64_Bit, affected_product Windows_11, attack_target Client_Endpoint, tls_state plaintext, created_at 2025_06_16, deployment Perimeter, performance_impact Moderate, confidence Medium, signature_severity Major, tag PowerShell, updated_at 2025_06_16, mitre_tactic_id TA0002, mitre_tactic_name Execution, mitre_technique_id T1059, mitre_technique_name Command_And_Scripting_Interpreter;
    target:dest_ip;
)

Detection rules belong to the projects that publish them and remain under their own licenses. This site indexes and links to them; it claims no rights in them.