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Network Connection Initiated via Finger.EXE

sigma HIGH SigmaHQ
T1071.004T1059.003
imNetworkSession
This rule was pulled from an open-source repository and enriched with AI. Validate in a test environment before deploying to production.
View original rule at SigmaHQ →
Retrieved: 2026-05-05T23:00:00Z · Confidence: low

Hunt Hypothesis

Detects network connections via finger.exe, which can be abused by threat actors to retrieve remote commands for execution on Windows devices. In one ClickFix malware campaign, adversaries leveraged t

Detection Rule

Sigma (Original)

title: Network Connection Initiated via Finger.EXE
id: 2fdaf50b-9fd5-449f-ba69-f17248119af6
related:
    - id: c082c2b0-525b-4dbc-9a26-a57dc4692074
      type: similar
    - id: af491bca-e752-4b44-9c86-df5680533dbc
      type: similar
status: experimental
description: |
    Detects network connections via finger.exe, which can be abused by threat actors to retrieve remote commands for execution on Windows devices.
    In one ClickFix malware campaign, adversaries leveraged the finger protocol to fetch commands from a remote server.
    Since the finger utility is not commonly used in modern Windows environments, its presence already raises suspicion.
    Investigating such network connections can also help identify potential malicious infrastructure used by threat actors
references:
    - https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/decades-old-finger-protocol-abused-in-clickfix-malware-attacks/
author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
date: 2025-11-19
tags:
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.t1071.004
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059.003
logsource:
    category: network_connection
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Initiated: 'true'
        Image|endswith: '\finger.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high

KQL (Azure Sentinel)

imNetworkSession
| where NetworkDirection =~ "true" and (SrcProcessName endswith "\\finger.exe" or DstProcessName endswith "\\finger.exe")

Required Data Sources

Sentinel TableNotes
imNetworkSessionEnsure this data connector is enabled

False Positive Guidance

MITRE ATT&CK Context

References

Original source: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/network_connection/net_connection_win_finger.yml