GitHub Repo

Detection: Detect attackers scanning for vulnerable JBoss servers

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.

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 104658f4-afdc-499e-9719-17243f982681 Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies specific GET or HEAD requests to web servers that indicate reconnaissance attempts to find vulnerable JBoss servers. It leverages data from the Web data model, focusing on HTTP methods and URLs associated with JBoss management interfaces. This activity is significant because it often precedes exploitation attempts using tools like JexBoss, which can compromise the server. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain unauthorized access, execute arbitrary code, or escalate privileges, leading to potential data breaches and system compromise.

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Web
 3  WHERE (
 4        Web.http_method="GET"
 5        OR
 6        Web.http_method="HEAD"
 7    )
 8    AND (Web.url="*/web-console/ServerInfo.jsp*" OR Web.url="*web-console*" OR Web.url="*jmx-console*" OR Web.url = "*invoker*")
 9  BY Web.http_method, Web.url, Web.src,
10     Web.dest
11
12| `drop_dm_object_name("Web")`
13
14| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
15
16| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
17
18| `detect_attackers_scanning_for_vulnerable_jboss_servers_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_summariesonly summariesonly=summariesonly_config allow_old_summaries=oldsummaries_config fillnull_value=fillnull_config``
detect_attackers_scanning_for_vulnerable_jboss_servers_filter search *
detect_attackers_scanning_for_vulnerable_jboss_servers_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
T1082 System Information Discovery Discovery
T1133 External Remote Services Initial Access
Exploitation
Installation
Delivery
DE.CM
CIS 13

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 Finding (Notable) Yes
Rule Title %name%
Rule Description %description%
Notable Event Fields user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event) No
TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

You must be ingesting data from the web server or network traffic that contains web specific information, and populating the Web data model.

Known False Positives

It's possible for legitimate HTTP requests to be made to URLs containing the suspicious paths.

Associated Analytic Story

Finding

Title Entity Field Entity Type Risk Score
Potential Scanning for Vulnerable JBoss Servers - $dest$ dest system 50

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: 8