TigerVNC is being used by adversaries to establish remote management and monitoring capabilities, enabling persistent access and potential command and control communication. SOC teams should proactively hunt for this behavior in Azure Sentinel to identify and mitigate potential compromise of endpoint systems through abused remote management tools.
KQL Query
let Time_start = now(-5d);
let Time_end = now();
//
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp between (Time_start..Time_end)
| where InitiatingProcessVersionInfoCompanyName has 'TigerVNC'
and InitiatingProcessVersionInfoProductName has 'TigerVNC'
| summarize FirstSeen=min(Timestamp), LastSeen=max(Timestamp),
Report=make_set(ReportId), Count=count() by DeviceId, DeviceName,
RemoteUrl
id: dc1950c0-efeb-4695-aa95-74198df5dab8
name: Remote Management and Monitoring tool - TigerVNC - Network Connection
description: |
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) programs are IT to manage remote endpoints. Attackers have begun to abuse these programs to persist or provide C2 channels.
https://github.com/jischell-msft/RemoteManagementMonitoringTools
requiredDataConnectors:
- connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
dataTypes:
- DeviceNetworkEvents
tactics: CommandAndControl
relevantTechniques: T1219
query: |
let Time_start = now(-5d);
let Time_end = now();
//
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp between (Time_start..Time_end)
| where InitiatingProcessVersionInfoCompanyName has 'TigerVNC'
and InitiatingProcessVersionInfoProductName has 'TigerVNC'
| summarize FirstSeen=min(Timestamp), LastSeen=max(Timestamp),
Report=make_set(ReportId), Count=count() by DeviceId, DeviceName,
RemoteUrl
| Sentinel Table | Notes |
|---|---|
DeviceNetworkEvents | Ensure this data connector is enabled |
Scenario: Scheduled System Maintenance via TigerVNC
Description: A system administrator schedules a maintenance task using TigerVNC to remotely reboot a server during off-peak hours.
Filter/Exclusion: process.parent_process_name == "task scheduler" or process.command_line contains "schtasks"
Scenario: Remote Desktop Administration via TigerVNC
Description: An IT admin uses TigerVNC to perform routine remote desktop administration on a Windows server.
Filter/Exclusion: process.parent_process_name == "mstsc.exe" or process.command_line contains "mstsc"
Scenario: Software Update Deployment via TigerVNC
Description: A patch management tool uses TigerVNC to push updates to multiple endpoints across the network.
Filter/Exclusion: process.command_line contains "patchmgr.exe" or process.parent_process_name == "patchmgr.exe"
Scenario: Backup Job Execution via TigerVNC
Description: A backup job configured to run via TigerVNC to access a remote file share for data backup.
Filter/Exclusion: process.command_line contains "backup.exe" or process.parent_process_name == "backupsvc"
Scenario: Admin Task Execution via TigerVNC
Description: An admin uses TigerVNC to run a PowerShell script for system configuration changes on a remote machine.
Filter/Exclusion: process.command_line contains "powershell.exe" and process.parent_process_name == "tigervnc.exe"