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Detection Strategies DET0415 — Application Exhaustion Flood Detection Across Platforms
DET0415

Application Exhaustion Flood Detection Across Platforms

4 analytic(s) · 1 technique(s) detected

Analytics

4
AN1165 Analytic 1165
Windows

Repeated invocation of high-resource application endpoints or GUI components causing CPU and memory spikes, logged as elevated request volumes, prolonged handle locks, or frequent crash recoveries.

WinEventLog:Application High-frequency errors or hangs from resource-intensive application components (e.g., .NET, IIS, Office Suite) WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=1 Windows:perfmon Sudden spikes in CPU/Memory usage linked to specific application processes
[CPUThreshold] Define what percentage of CPU usage indicates abnormal behavior.
[MemoryConsumptionWindow] Window (e.g., 5 mins) during which sustained memory usage may be abnormal.
[AppCrashFrequency] Threshold for frequency of application faults within a specific interval.
AN1166 Analytic 1166
Linux

Automated scripts or repeated CLI/API requests that trigger application backends to consume high CPU or memory (e.g., Apache/PHP, MySQL, mail servers), resulting in syslog errors and excessive process spawning.

auditd:SYSCALL execve linux:syslog Error/warning logs from services indicating load spike or worker exhaustion NSM:Flow Sustained abnormal inbound request rate targeting application ports (e.g., 80/443/25)
[SyslogErrorRate] Defines number of critical errors in logs within time window.
[PortRequestSpikeThreshold] Spike rate on monitored service port triggering alert.
[ProcessSpawnRate] Rate of process creation that may overwhelm the system.
AN1167 Analytic 1167
macOS

Repetitive triggering of GUI or backend application workflows that cause increased CPU/memory usage, logged in unified logs as spin reports or crash dumps.

macos:unifiedlog Application errors or resource contention from excessive frontend or script invocation macos:osquery Rapid spawning of resource-heavy applications (e.g., Preview, Safari, Office)
[SpinReportCount] Threshold for number of system spin/crash reports in a defined window.
[HeavyAppReopenRate] Frequency of user or script reopening GUI-heavy apps.
AN1168 Analytic 1168
IaaS

Automated abuse of cloud-hosted applications (e.g., web apps, REST endpoints, internal APIs) causing compute exhaustion, high 5xx error rates, or frequent autoscaling triggers logged in app insights or cloudwatch.

AWS:CloudWatch Elevated 5xx response rates in application logs or gateway layer AWS:CloudTrail InvokeFunction AWS:CloudMetrics Autoscaling, memory/cpu alarms, or instance unhealthiness
[HTTP5xxRateThreshold] Ratio of 5xx error codes over requests indicating resource exhaustion.
[FunctionInvocationRate] Spike in lambda/API gateway executions indicating scripted behavior.
[AutoscaleEventCount] Triggers linked to app DoS where legitimate scaling is mimicked.

Detected Techniques

1

Details

MITRE ID
DET0415
STIX ID
x-mitre-detection-strategy--430abda8-2a2c-4ab8-bbd6-eb205a189362
Analytics
4
Techniques Detected
1
By Tactic
Impact
1
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