The detection identifies potential exploitation of the leaked Equation Group tool ‘sambal’ by adversaries leveraging its capabilities for unauthorized system access. SOC teams should proactively hunt for this behavior in Azure Sentinel to identify and mitigate early-stage advanced persistent threat activity.
YARA Rule
rule EquationGroup_sambal {
meta:
description = "Equation Group hack tool leaked by ShadowBrokers- file sambal"
author = "Florian Roth"
reference = "https://medium.com/@shadowbrokerss/dont-forget-your-base-867d304a94b1"
date = "2017-04-08"
hash1 = "2abf4bbe4debd619b99cb944298f43312db0947217437e6b71b9ea6e9a1a4fec"
strings:
$s1 = "+ Bruteforce mode." fullword ascii
$s3 = "+ Host is not running samba!" fullword ascii
$s4 = "+ connecting back to: [%d.%d.%d.%d:45295]" fullword ascii
$s5 = "+ Exploit failed, try -b to bruteforce." fullword ascii
$s7 = "Usage: %s [-bBcCdfprsStv] [host]" fullword ascii
condition:
( uint16(0) == 0x457f and filesize < 90KB and 1 of them ) or ( 2 of them )
}This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:
This rule contains 5 string patterns in its detection logic.
Scenario: Scheduled System Maintenance Task
Description: A legitimate scheduled task runs the sambal tool as part of a routine system maintenance or patching process.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes associated with known system maintenance tasks (e.g., schtasks.exe, Task Scheduler jobs with names like SystemMaintenance or PatchUpdate).
Scenario: Network Discovery Tool Usage
Description: The sambal tool is used by a network discovery or inventory tool (e.g., Nmap, Masscan, or Nessus) to scan internal networks.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes initiated by network scanning tools (e.g., nmap.exe, nessuscli.exe) or network discovery services.
Scenario: Admin Task for File Integrity Monitoring
Description: An admin uses a custom script or tool (e.g., PsExec, PowerShell) to run sambal as part of a file integrity check or forensic analysis.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes initiated by administrative tools (e.g., powershell.exe, psexec.exe) with known admin task names or user contexts (e.g., Administrators).
Scenario: Legacy Software Compatibility Check
Description: The sambal tool is part of a legacy software package or compatibility check tool used to verify system compatibility with older applications.
Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes running under specific legacy software contexts (e.g., LegacyApp.exe, CompatibilityChecker.exe) or within virtualized environments.
Scenario: Security Tool for Threat Hunting
Description: A security analyst uses a threat-hunting tool (e.g., Mandiant MTR, CrowdStrike Falcon) that includes sambal as part of