CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns
Detects the creation of a named pipe with a pattern found in CobaltStrike malleable C2 profiles
Detection logic
Detection requirements
- Platform
- LinuxmacOSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source product
- windows
- Log source category
- pipe_created
Known benign triggers
- Chrome instances using the exact same pipe name "mojo.xxx"
- Some applications may just coincidentally use the pipe names which contain the same prefix as the ones used by CobaltStrike, e.g. "f4c3"
- Websense Endpoint using the pipe name "DserNamePipe(R|W)\d{1,5}"
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| gist.github.com/MHaggis/6c600e524045a6d49c35291a21e10752 | 2 |
| svch0st.medium.com/guide-to-named-pipes-and-hunting-for-cobalt-strike-pipes-dc46b2c5f575 | 2 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 85adeb13-4fc9-4e68-8a4a-c7cb2c336eb7
- Tagged by the source as
- attack.privilege-escalationattack.stealthstp.1k
Licence
- Published under
- Detection Rule License 1.1Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Published
- Aug 26, 2026
- Version
- 1