Elastic Security Detection Rules

Potential Traffic Tunneling using QEMU

Last updated 2 days ago on 2026-02-09
Created 2 days ago on 2026-02-09

About

Identifies the use of the QEMU hardware emulator to potentially tunnel network traffic between Virtual machines. This can be used by attackers to enable routing of network packets that would otherwise not reach their intended destination.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsOS: LinuxOS: macOSUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: SentinelOneData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Remote Access Tools (T1219)(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-*auditbeat-*
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 event.type == "start" and
 process.args : "-netdev" and
 (
  (process.args : "-nographic" and process.command_line : "*connect=*" and process.command_line : "*restrict=off*") or
   process.command_line : "*hostfwd=*"
 )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Traffic Tunneling using QEMU 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).