Suspicious Shell Execution via Velociraptor

Last updated 6 days ago on 2026-03-18
Created 6 days ago on 2026-03-18

About

Detects shell executions (cmd, PowerShell, rundll32) spawned by Velociraptor. Threat actors have been observed installing Velociraptor to execute shell commands on compromised systems, blending in with legitimate system processes.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlTactic: ExecutionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: CrowdstrikeData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Windows Security Event LogsLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Command and Control (TA0011)(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.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
text code block:
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.command_line != null and process.parent.name : "velociraptor.exe" and process.name : ("cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "rundll32.exe") and not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.command_line : "*RwBlAHQALQBMAG8AYwBhAGwARwByAG8AdQBwAE0AZQBtAGIAZQBy*") and not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.command_line : "*RwBlAHQALQBEAGEAdABl*" and process.command_line : "*-Format*") and not (process.name : "cmd.exe" and process.command_line : "*start*127.0.0.1:8889*") and not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.command_line : "*RwBlAHQALQBJAHQAZQBt*" and process.command_line : "*UgBlAGcAaQBzAHQAcgB5*" and process.command_line : "*UgB1AG4A*") and not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.args : ("RwBlAHQALQ*", "UgBlAG0AbwB2AGUALQBJAHQAZQBtACA*", "C:\\Program Files\\Velociraptor\\thor.db", "import-module \"C:\\Program Files\\Velociraptor\\Tools\\*"))

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Suspicious Shell Execution via Velociraptor 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).