Rare Connection to WebDAV Target

Last updated 16 days ago on 2025-04-28
Created 16 days ago on 2025-04-28

About

Identifies rare connection attempts to a Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) resource. Attackers may inject WebDAV paths in files or features opened by a victim user to leak their NTLM credentials via forced authentication.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Credential AccessData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: esql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Credential Access (TA0006)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

Definition

Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

system(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
FROM logs-*
| where @timestamp > NOW() - 8 hours
| WHERE event.category == "process" and event.type == "start" and process.name == "rundll32.exe" and process.command_line like "*DavSetCookie*"
| keep host.id, process.command_line, user.name
| grok process.command_line """(?<target>DavSetCookie .* http)"""
| eval webdav_target = REPLACE(target, "(DavSetCookie | http)", "")
| where webdav_target is not null and webdav_target rlike """(([a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,3}(@SSL.*)*|(\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3})""" and not webdav_target in ("www.google.com@SSL", "www.elastic.co@SSL") and not webdav_target rlike """(10\.(\d{1,3}\.){2}\d{1,3}|172\.(1[6-9]|2\d|3[0-1])\.(\d{1,3}\.)\d{1,3}|192\.168\.(\d{1,3}\.)\d{1,3})"""
| stats total = count(*), unique_count_host = count_distinct(host.id), hosts = VALUES(host.id), users = VALUES(user.name) by webdav_target
| where unique_count_host == 1 and total <= 3

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Rare Connection to WebDAV Target 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(opens in a new tab or window).