Netcat Network Activity
editNetcat Network Activity
editA netcat
process is engaging in network activity on a Linux host. Netcat is
often used as a persistence mechanism by exporting a reverse shell or by serving
a shell on a listening port. Netcat is also sometimes used for data
exfiltration.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- auditbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
Severity: medium
Risk score: 47
Runs every: 5 minutes
Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time
)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Linux
- Threat Detection
Version: 5 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License
Potential false positives
editNetcat is a dual-use tool that can be used for benign or malicious activity. Netcat is included in some Linux distributions so its presence is not necessarily suspicious. Some normal use of this program, while uncommon, may originate from scripts, automation tools, and frameworks.
Rule query
editsequence by process.entity_id [process where (process.name == "nc" or process.name == "ncat" or process.name == "netcat" or process.name == "netcat.openbsd" or process.name == "netcat.traditional") and event.type == "start"] [network where (process.name == "nc" or process.name == "ncat" or process.name == "netcat" or process.name == "netcat.openbsd" or process.name == "netcat.traditional")]
Rule version history
edit- Version 5 (7.10.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
event.category:network and event.type:(access or connection or start) and process.name:(nc or ncat or netcat or netcat.openbsd or netcat.traditional)
-
- Version 4 (7.9.1 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.9.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process.name:(nc or ncat or netcat or netcat.openbsd or netcat.traditional) and event.action:(bound-socket or connected-to or socket_opened)
-
- Version 2 (7.7.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process.name: (nc or ncat or netcat or netcat.openbsd or netcat.traditional) and event.action: (connected-to or bound-socket or socket_opened)
-