Malicious Port Forwarding Tunnel via Netsh Portproxy (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1090.001Internal Proxy
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects netsh interface portproxy commands that create a local port-forwarding tunnel, which adversaries use to relay traffic through a compromised host and reach otherwise unreachable internal systems. Netsh portproxy tunneling is a command-and-control and lateral-movement technique in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting the tunnel setup surfaces network pivoting through the endpoint.

Reporting behind it

Related detections8 linkedT1090.001 — drag to rearrange

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Windows execution of cloudflared.exe from a non-default directory

Windows Process Creation: Chisel Tunneling Tool (chisel.exe) Execution

Windows SharpChisel Command-Line Execution via SharpChisel.exe

Windows WFP Event 5156: RDP traffic via loopback when hosted by svchost termsvcs

Malicious Port Forwarding Tunnel via Netsh Portproxy (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1090.001 · 8 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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