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LOLBAS Network Connection On Uncommon Port

The following analytic identifies Living Off the Land Binaries and Scripts (LOLBAS) that can legitimately initiate public network connections but are communicating over uncommon destination ports. It leverages the…

Description

The following analytic identifies Living Off the Land Binaries and Scripts (LOLBAS) that can legitimately initiate public network connections but are communicating over uncommon destination ports. It leverages the Network Traffic data model and applies per-binary common-port exclusions to reduce false positives while preserving suspicious non-standard communication. This behavior may indicate payload download, command-and-control, proxy execution, or attempts to blend malicious traffic into trusted Windows binaries. Join this detection with the Process Execution events to provide context and avoid false positives.

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Platform
ESXiLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 3 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.

Log source category
sysmon_eventid_3

Known benign triggers

  • Legitimate software installation, support tooling, scripting, synchronization, or update workflows may still use uncommon ports in some environments. Tune approved destinations, ports, and process paths with the analytic filter macro.

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