Malicious PubLoad C2 Beacon Spoofing Microsoft Host (via proxy)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Category
proxy
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-21
Updated
2026-10-21

ATT&CK techniques

C2
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PubLoad C2 traffic that spoofs the Host header as www.asia.microsoft.com while requesting the URI path v6-winsp1-wuredir, a pattern used by Stately Taurus to disguise beacons as Windows Update traffic. The mismatch between a Microsoft-looking Host and the non-Microsoft destination reveals the covert command-and-control channel.

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Malicious PubLoad C2 Beacon Spoofing Microsoft Host (via proxy)
Pivot detection · T1071.001 · 9 related

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