ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1041 | Exfiltration Over C2 Channel | Exfiltration |
Detection: Detect SNICat SNI Exfiltration
EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION
This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.
Description
The following analytic identifies the use of SNICat tool commands within the TLS SNI field, indicating potential data exfiltration attempts. It leverages Zeek SSL data to detect specific SNICat commands such as LIST, LS, SIZE, LD, CB, EX, ALIVE, EXIT, WHERE, and finito in the server_name field. This activity is significant as SNICat is a known tool for covert data exfiltration using TLS. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to exfiltrate sensitive data undetected, posing a severe threat to data confidentiality and integrity.
Search
1`zeek_ssl`
2| rex field=server_name "(?<snicat>(LIST
3|LS
4|SIZE
5|LD
6|CB
7|CD
8|EX
9|ALIVE
10|EXIT
11|WHERE
12|finito)-[A-Za-z0-9]{16}\.)"
13| stats count by src_ip dest_ip server_name snicat
14| where count>0
15| table src_ip dest_ip server_name snicat
16| `detect_snicat_sni_exfiltration_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
zeek_ssl | index=zeek sourcetype="zeek:ssl:json" |
detect_snicat_sni_exfiltration_filter | search * |
detect_snicat_sni_exfiltration_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
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 |
Implementation
You must be ingesting Zeek SSL data into Splunk. Zeek data should also be getting ingested in JSON format. We are detecting when any of the predefined SNICat commands are found within the server_name (SNI) field. These commands are LIST, LS, SIZE, LD, CB, EX, ALIVE, EXIT, WHERE, and finito. You can go further once this has been detected, and run other searches to decode the SNI data to prove or disprove if any data exfiltration has taken place.
Known False Positives
Unknown
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
tbd | 25 | 50 | 50 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | Not Applicable | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ❌ Failing | N/A | N/A |
N/A |
Integration | ❌ Failing | N/A | N/A |
N/A |
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: 2