Potential Remote Desktop Tunneling Detected

Last updated a month ago on 2026-04-07

Created 6 years ago on 2020-10-14

About

Identifies potential use of an SSH utility to establish RDP over an SSH Tunnel. This can be used by attackers to enable routing of network packets that would otherwise not reach their intended destination.

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlTactic: Lateral MovementData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Microsoft Defender XDRData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql

Severity

high

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Protocol Tunneling (T1572)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Lateral Movement (TA0008)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Remote Services (T1021)(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

endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*

Related Integrations

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

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

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

m365_defender(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

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

Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  /* RDP port with SSH local or reverse port-forwarding flags */
  process.args : "*:3389" and process.args : ("-L", "-R")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Remote Desktop Tunneling Detected 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).