Detection: Windows Application Layer Protocol RMS Radmin Tool Namedpipe

Updated Date: 2025-05-02 ID: b62a6040-49f4-47c8-b3f6-fc1adb952a33 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the use of default or publicly known named pipes associated with the RMX remote admin tool. It leverages Sysmon EventCodes 17 and 18 to identify named pipe creation and connection events. This activity is significant as the RMX tool has been abused by adversaries and malware like Azorult to collect data from targeted hosts. If confirmed malicious, this could indicate unauthorized remote administration capabilities, leading to data exfiltration or further compromise of the affected system. Immediate investigation is required to determine the legitimacy of this tool's presence.

Search

1`sysmon` EventCode IN (17, 18) EventType IN ( "CreatePipe", "ConnectPipe") PipeName IN ("\\RManFUSServerNotify32", "\\RManFUSCallbackNotify32", "\\RMSPrint*") 
2| stats  min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by dest dvc pipe_name process_exec process_guid process_id process_name process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product Image PipeName 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `windows_application_layer_protocol_rms_radmin_tool_namedpipe_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Sysmon EventID 17	Windows	`'xmlwineventlog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`
Sysmon EventID 18	Windows	`'xmlwineventlog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
windows_application_layer_protocol_rms_radmin_tool_namedpipe_filter	`search *`

windows_application_layer_protocol_rms_radmin_tool_namedpipe_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1071	Application Layer Protocol	Command And Control

Command and Control

DE.CM

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Notable	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, parent process, and command-line executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.

Known False Positives

False positives may be present. Filter based on pipe name or process.

Associated Analytic Story

Azorult

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

possible RMS admin tool named pipe was created in endpoint $dest$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	81	No Threat Objects

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 6