Solorigate Named Pipe

Hunt Hypothesis

Adversaries are leveraging named pipe techniques to exfiltrate data and establish persistence, as seen in the Solorigate campaign. SOC teams should proactively hunt for this behavior in Azure Sentinel to detect and mitigate advanced persistent threats that exploit named pipe IOCs.

KQL Query

(union isfuzzy=true
(Event
| where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
| where EventID in (17,18)
| where EventData has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
| extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
| mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
| evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
| extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
| evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, MG, ManagementGroupName, _ResourceId)
| extend PipeName = column_ifexists("PipeName", "")
| extend Account = User
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(User, @"\")[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(User, @"\")[0])
),
(
SecurityEvent
| where EventID == '5145'
// %%4418 looks for presence of CreatePipeInstance value
| where AccessList has '%%4418'
| where RelativeTargetName has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
| extend AccountName = SubjectUserName, AccountNTDomain = SubjectDomainName
),
(
WindowsEvent
| where EventID == '5145' and EventData has '%%4418'  and EventData has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
// %%4418 looks for presence of CreatePipeInstance value
| extend AccessList= tostring(EventData.AccessList)
| where AccessList has '%%4418'
| extend RelativeTargetName= tostring(EventData.RelativeTargetName)
| where RelativeTargetName has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
| extend Account =  strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
| extend AccountName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), AccountNTDomain = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName)
)
)
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| project-away DomainIndex

Analytic Rule Definition

id: 11b4c19d-2a79-4da3-af38-b067e1273dee
name: Solorigate Named Pipe
description: |
  'Identifies a match across various data feeds for named pipe IOCs related to the Solorigate incident.
   For the sysmon events required for this detection, logging for Named Pipe Events needs to be configured in Sysmon config (Event ID 17 and Event ID 18)
   Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-sentinel/solarwinds-post-compromise-hunting-with-azure-sentinel/ba-p/1995095'
severity: High
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsForwardedEvents
    dataTypes:
      - WindowsEvent
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - DefenseEvasion
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1055
tags:
  - Solorigate
  - NOBELIUM
query: |
  (union isfuzzy=true
  (Event
  | where Source == "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon"
  | where EventID in (17,18)
  | where EventData has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
  | extend EventData = parse_xml(EventData).DataItem.EventData.Data
  | mv-expand bagexpansion=array EventData
  | evaluate bag_unpack(EventData)
  | extend Key = tostring(column_ifexists('@Name', "")), Value = column_ifexists('#text', "")
  | evaluate pivot(Key, any(Value), TimeGenerated, Source, EventLog, Computer, EventLevel, EventLevelName, EventID, UserName, MG, ManagementGroupName, _ResourceId)
  | extend PipeName = column_ifexists("PipeName", "")
  | extend Account = User
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(User, @"\")[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(User, @"\")[0])
  ),
  (
  SecurityEvent
  | where EventID == '5145'
  // %%4418 looks for presence of CreatePipeInstance value
  | where AccessList has '%%4418'
  | where RelativeTargetName has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
  | extend AccountName = SubjectUserName, AccountNTDomain = SubjectDomainName
  ),
  (
  WindowsEvent
  | where EventID == '5145' and EventData has '%%4418'  and EventData has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
  // %%4418 looks for presence of CreatePipeInstance value
  | extend AccessList= tostring(EventData.AccessList)
  | where AccessList has '%%4418'
  | extend RelativeTargetName= tostring(EventData.RelativeTargetName)
  | where RelativeTargetName has '583da945-62af-10e8-4902-a8f205c72b2e'
  | extend Account =  strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
  | extend AccountName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), AccountNTDomain = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName)
  )
  )
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
  | project-away DomainIndex
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Accoun

Required Data Sources

MITRE ATT&CK Context

• Tactic: DefenseEvasion
• Tactic: PrivilegeEscalation
• Technique: T1055 — T1055

References

• Source Query

False Positive Guidance

• Scenario: Scheduled System Maintenance Task
  Description: A legitimate scheduled task using a named pipe to perform system maintenance or updates.
  Filter/Exclusion: Exclude events where the process name is schtasks.exe and the command line includes maintenance or update.

• Scenario: Database Backup via Named Pipe
  Description: A database backup tool (e.g., sqlbackup.exe or mysqldump.exe) using a named pipe to transfer data.
  Filter/Exclusion: Exclude events where the process name is sqlbackup.exe or mysqldump.exe and the command line includes backup or restore.

• Scenario: Admin Task Using Named Pipe for Remote Debugging
  Description: An administrator using a remote debugging tool (e.g., gdb, windbg, or Visual Studio) to debug a service via a named pipe.
  Filter/Exclusion: Exclude events where the process name is gdb.exe, windbg.exe, or devenv.exe and the command line includes debug or attach.

• Scenario: Log File Rotation via Named Pipe
  Description: A log management tool (e.g., logrotate, Splunk, or ELK) using a named pipe to manage log files.
  Filter/Exclusion: Exclude events where the process name is logrotate, splunkd.exe, or elasticsearch.exe and the command line includes rotate, logrotate, or pipeline.

• Scenario: Inter-Service Communication via Named Pipe
  Description: Internal services (e.g., ServiceA.exe and ServiceB.exe) communicating via a named pipe for data exchange.
  Filter/Exclusion: Exclude events where both the process names are known internal services and the named