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.
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 |
|---|---|
| lolbas-project.github.io/# | 12from 3 sources |
| www.sans.org/presentations/lolbin-detection-methods-seven-common-attacks-revealed/ | 3 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- a6628e6d-be28-4278-b17d-6b5a32968eea
- Tagged by the source as
- APT37 Rustonotto and FadeStealerFake CAPTCHA CampaignsGhostRedirector IIS Module and Rungan BackdoorHellcat RansomwareLiving Off The LandMalicious Inno Setup LoaderNetSupport RMM Tool AbuseWater GamayunEndpointendpointSplunk CloudSplunk EnterpriseSplunk Enterprise Securitynetwork
Licence
- Published under
- Apache License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
- Obtained under
- Apache-2.0Read the origin licence
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 5, 2026
- Version
- 1