Potential Pikabot Discovery Activity

Detects system discovery activity carried out by Pikabot, such as incl. network, user info and domain groups. The malware Pikabot has been seen to use this technique as part of its C2-botnet registration with a short collection time frame (less than 1 minute).

title: Potential Pikabot Discovery Activity
id: 698d4431-514f-4c82-af4d-cf573872a9f5
status: test
description: |
    Detects system discovery activity carried out by Pikabot, such as incl. network, user info and domain groups.
    The malware Pikabot has been seen to use this technique as part of its C2-botnet registration with a short collection time frame (less than 1 minute).
references:
    - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/72f1a5476a845ea02344c9b7edecfe399f64b52409229edaf856fcb9535e3242
    - https://tria.ge/231023-lpw85she57/behavioral2
author: Andreas Braathen (mnemonic.io)
date: 2023-10-27
modified: 2024-01-26
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1016
    - attack.t1049
    - attack.t1087
    - detection.emerging-threats
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: process_creation
    definition: 'Requirements: By default the process_creation type event might not contain the GrandParentImage. Make sure you collect such fields in order to use this rule'
detection:
    selection_parent:
        - GrandParentImage|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
        - ParentImage|endswith:
              - '\SearchFilterHost.exe'
              - '\SearchProtocolHost.exe'
    selection_child:
        CommandLine:
            # Note: Only add strings as seen used by Pikabot to avoid collision with other strains of malware
            - 'ipconfig.exe /all'
            - 'netstat.exe -aon'
            - 'whoami.exe /all'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high

• T1016System Network Configuration Discovery
• T1049System Network Connections Discovery
• T1087Account Discovery

• https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/72f1a5476a845ea02344c9b7edecfe399f64b52409229edaf856fcb9535e3242↗
• https://tria.ge/231023-lpw85she57/behavioral2↗