Network Connection Followed by File Creation

Last updated 3 days ago on 2026-07-02
Created 3 days ago on 2026-07-02

About

Detects network connections originating from a binary located in a potentially suspicious location, followed by a file creation event. This behavior is consistent with C2 agents such as Poseidon and Athena, connecting to a C2 framework such as Mythic. The agent polls the C2 for commands through a web request, after which the command gets executed.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: LinuxUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Command and Control (TA0011)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.network*logs-endpoint.events.file*
Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
sequence by host.id, process.entity_id with maxspan=5s [network where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "start" and event.action == "connection_attempted" and process.executable like ( "/boot/*", "/dev/shm/*", "/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/var/log/*", "/var/run/user/*", "/run/user/*" ) and not ( destination.ip == null or destination.ip == "0.0.0.0" or cidrmatch( destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8", "127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24", "192.0.0.0/29","192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32", "192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32", "192.0.2.0/24", "192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "100.64.0.0/10", "192.175.48.0/24", "198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1", "FE80::/10", "FF00::/8", "FC00::/7" ) )] [file where host.os.type == "linux" and event.type == "creation" and process.executable like ( "/boot/*", "/dev/shm/*", "/tmp/*", "/var/tmp/*", "/var/log/*", "/boot/*", "/var/run/user/*", "/run/user/*" ) and not ( file.name like "tmp*" or file.extension in ("sqlite-journal", "db-journal", "lockfile", "tmp") or file.path like ( "/loki/wal/*", "/dev/shm/.org.chromium.Chromium.*", "/opt/rapid7/nexpose/*", "/usr/local/ltechagent*", "/var/lib/cloudendure/agent_keystore_temp", "/var/cache/yum/*", "/run/aws-node/ipam.json.tmp*", "/run/systemd/journal/streams/.*" ) or (process.executable == "/tmp/terraform" and file.path like "/tmp/terraform-provider*") or process.name in ("podman", "minikube", "logrotate", "java", "aws-k8s-agent", "grafana", "postman") or process.executable : ( "/etc/cron.daily/logrotate", "/etc/update-motd.d/50-motd-news", "/etc/cron.hourly/0yum-hourly.cron", "/etc/cron.hourly/BitdefenderRedline", "/tmp/token_handler", "/tmp/.sentry-cli*.exe", "/etc/cron.daily/0yum-daily.cron", "/etc/init.d/fortiedr" ) )]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Network Connection Followed by File Creation in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).