Detects the execution of a shell (powershell, bash, wsl…) via Visual Studio Code tunnel. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel and execute arbitrary commands on the system
title: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Shell Execution
id: f4a623c2-4ef5-4c33-b811-0642f702c9f1
status: test
description: Detects the execution of a shell (powershell, bash, wsl...) via Visual Studio Code tunnel. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel and execute arbitrary commands on the system.
references:
- https://ipfyx.fr/post/visual-studio-code-tunnel/
- https://badoption.eu/blog/2023/01/31/code_c2.html
- https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/tunnels
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-10-25
tags:
- attack.command-and-control
- attack.t1071.001
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection_parent:
ParentImage|contains: '\servers\Stable-'
ParentImage|endswith: '\server\node.exe'
ParentCommandLine|contains: '.vscode-server' # Technically one can host its own local server instead of using the VsCode one. And that would probably change the name (requires further research)
# Note: Child processes (ie: shells) can be whatever technically (with some efforts)
selection_child_1:
Image|endswith:
- '\powershell.exe'
- '\pwsh.exe'
CommandLine|contains: '\terminal\browser\media\shellIntegration.ps1'
selection_child_2:
Image|endswith:
- '\wsl.exe'
- '\bash.exe'
condition: selection_parent and 1 of selection_child_*
falsepositives:
- Legitimate use of Visual Studio Code tunnel and running code from there
level: medium
imProcessCreate
| where ((ParentProcessName contains "\\servers\\Stable-" or ActingProcessName contains "\\servers\\Stable-") and (ParentProcessName endswith "\\server\\node.exe" or ActingProcessName endswith "\\server\\node.exe") and ActingProcessCommandLine contains ".vscode-server") and (((TargetProcessName endswith "\\powershell.exe" or TargetProcessName endswith "\\pwsh.exe") and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "\\terminal\\browser\\media\\shellIntegration.ps1") or (TargetProcessName endswith "\\wsl.exe" or TargetProcessName endswith "\\bash.exe"))| Sentinel Table | Notes |
|---|---|
imProcessCreate | Ensure this data connector is enabled |