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Detection Strategies DET0011 — Detecting Junk Data in C2 Channels via Behavioral Analysis
DET0011

Detecting Junk Data in C2 Channels via Behavioral Analysis

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

Analytics

4
AN0030 Analytic 0030
Windows

Processes generating large outbound connections with disproportionate send/receive ratios, often to uncommon ports or hosts, potentially inserting meaningless data into protocol payloads.

WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=3, 22 WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=10 NSM:Flow TCP/UDP
[PayloadEntropyThreshold] Tunable threshold for Shannon entropy of network payloads.
[TimeWindow] Duration of outbound data transfer to evaluate disproportionate upload size.
[UserContext] Filter based on user accounts allowed to generate outbound traffic.
AN0031 Analytic 0031
Linux

Outbound traffic with anomalous payload sizes and patterns from non-networking processes, often observed via packet inspection or connection logs.

auditd:SYSCALL execve network tools NSM:Flow TCP session tracking
[EntropyScore] Adjust based on expected entropy of typical outbound data.
[ProcessWhitelist] Exclude known good binaries that generate high network output.
[DataRatioThreshold] Minimum ratio of bytes_sent to bytes_received.
AN0032 Analytic 0032
macOS

Previously unseen applications generating outbound connections with atypical data flow characteristics, such as excessive data with no return response.

macos:unifiedlog connection attempts macos:osquery process_events NSM:Flow session behavior
[ParentProcessCheck] Allow filtering based on parent-child relationship for benign services.
[HostWhitelist] Known legitimate C2-like patterns (e.g., Apple telemetry).
AN0033 Analytic 0033
ESXi

Anomalous traffic from ESXi host management daemons (like hostd or vpxa) embedding non-standard payloads in management protocols (e.g., HTTPS) or beaconing behavior.

esxi:vmkernel Network activity esxi:hostd System service interactions
[TLSFingerprintMismatch] Detects mismatched TLS client behavior vs expected for hostd/vpxa.
[UnusualDestinationPorts] Highlight traffic from ESXi hosts to uncommon ports outside vCenter ranges.

Detected Techniques

1

Command & Control (1)

Details

MITRE ID
DET0011
STIX ID
x-mitre-detection-strategy--bb40d0a9-b35b-4adc-8a69-a3002d53f5f7
Analytics
4
Techniques Detected
1
By Tactic
Command & Control
1
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