Name:Socat Remote TCP Connection with Local Echo Disabled id:458c6c37-116d-4f01-8267-f09f5b82cd14 version:1 date:None author:Maria Jose Erquiaga, Splunk status:production type:Anomaly Description:The following analytic detects execution of the socat utility with a remote TCP or OpenSSL connection and local terminal echo disabled.
This configuration may be used for interactive terminal sessions, password handling, automation, or network debugging.
When observed in an unexpected context, such as execution by an unusual parent process or connection to an untrusted endpoint, it may indicate suspicious remote access activity. Data_source:
-Osquery Results
-Sysmon for Linux EventID 1
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
Processes.process_name="socat*" Processes.process="*echo=0*" Processes.process IN ( "*openssl:*", "*tcp:*", "*tcp4:*", "*tcp6:*" )
how_to_implement:This detection uses osquery and endpoint security on MacOS. Follow the link in references, which describes how to setup process auditing in MacOS with endpoint security and osquery.
Also the [TA-OSquery](https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/8574) must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the data models. known_false_positives:Developers and network engineers may use socat with local echo disabled for legitimate TCP debugging, protocol testing, terminal handling, or troubleshooting. References: -https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/ -https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059 -https://blog.talosintelligence.com/bad-apples-weaponizing-native-macos-primitives-for-movement-and-execution/ -https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/socat/ -https://hackers-arise.com/socat-the-advanced-hackers-network-tool/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'7d' latest_offset:'0' analytic_story:['MacOS Post-Exploitation']
