Potentially Suspicious CMD Shell Output Redirect


Description

Detects inline Windows shell commands redirecting output via the ">" symbol to a suspicious location. This technique is sometimes used by malicious actors in order to redirect the output of reconnaissance commands such as "hostname" and "dir" to files for future exfiltration.

Query · sigma

selection_img:
- Image|endswith: \cmd.exe
- OriginalFileName: Cmd.Exe
selection_cli_1:
  CommandLine|contains:
  - '>?%APPDATA%\'
  - '>?%TEMP%\'
  - '>?%TMP%\'
  - '>?%USERPROFILE%\'
  - '>?C:\ProgramData\'
  - '>?C:\Temp\'
  - '>?C:\Users\Public\'
  - '>?C:\Windows\Temp\'
selection_cli_2:
  CommandLine|contains:
  - ' >'
  - '">'
  - '''>'
  CommandLine|contains|all:
  - C:\Users\
  - \AppData\Local\
condition: selection_img and 1 of selection_cli_*

Known false positives

  • Legitimate admin or third party scripts used for diagnostic collection might generate some false positives
Raw source Potentially Suspicious CMD Shell Output Redirect · Sigma
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Published by SigmaHQ/sigma ↗, licensed under Detection Rule License 1.1 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
title: Potentially Suspicious CMD Shell Output Redirect
id: 8e0bb260-d4b2-4fff-bb8d-3f82118e6892
related:
    - id: aa2efee7-34dd-446e-8a37-40790a66efd7
      type: derived
    - id: 4f4eaa9f-5ad4-410c-a4be-bc6132b0175a
      type: similar
status: test
description: |
    Detects inline Windows shell commands redirecting output via the ">" symbol to a suspicious location.
    This technique is sometimes used by malicious actors in order to redirect the output of reconnaissance commands such as "hostname" and "dir" to files for future exfiltration.
references:
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/07/11/select-xmrig-from-sqlserver/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-07-12
modified: 2024-03-19
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'Cmd.Exe'
    selection_cli_1:
        CommandLine|contains:
            # Note: Add more suspicious locations as you find them
            # Note: The space from the start is missing to cover append operations ">>"
            # Note: We use the "?" to account for both a single and a double quote
            # Note: If you want to account for more spaces which is still a valid bypass option. Use a regex with "\s"
            - '>?%APPDATA%\'
            - '>?%TEMP%\'
            - '>?%TMP%\'
            - '>?%USERPROFILE%\'
            - '>?C:\ProgramData\'
            - '>?C:\Temp\'
            - '>?C:\Users\Public\'
            - '>?C:\Windows\Temp\'
    selection_cli_2:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' >'
            - '">'
            - "'>"
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'C:\Users\'
            - '\AppData\Local\'
    condition: selection_img and 1 of selection_cli_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin or third party scripts used for diagnostic collection might generate some false positives
level: medium

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