Malicious Cloudflared Tunnel Execution via Cloudflared

ATT&CK techniques

C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1219Remote Access Tools
- T1572Protocol Tunneling
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of the cloudflared client to run a named tunnel with an embedded token, providing attackers covert command and control and remote access through Cloudflare infrastructure. This technique was observed in bulk RMM-driven intrusions against MSP customers where actors established persistent tunnels prior to Akira ransomware deployment. Detecting it early exposes attacker C2 egress that bypasses perimeter controls.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1219 — drag to rearrange

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Possible Gamaredon C2 via Ephemeral Tunneling and Worker Services

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Malicious Cloudflared Tunnel Execution via Cloudflared

Pivot detection · T1219 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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