Elastic Security Detection Rules

Command Prompt Network Connection

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 6 years ago on 2020-02-18

About

Identifies cmd.exe making a network connection. Adversaries could abuse cmd.exe to download or execute malware from a remote URL.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

↳ Ingress Tool Transfer (T1105)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Administrators may use the command prompt for regular administrative tasks. It's important to baseline your environment for network connections being made from the command prompt to determine any abnormal use of this tool.
License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

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

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
sequence by process.entity_id
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "cmd.exe" and event.type == "start"]
  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "cmd.exe" and
     not 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") and
    not dns.question.name : (
          "wpad", "localhost", "ocsp.comodoca.com", "ocsp.digicert.com", "ocsp.sectigo.com", "crl.comodoca.com"
    )]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Command Prompt Network Connection 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).