Network DNS Queries to IP-Embedding Wildcard DNS Services
Flags DNS queries to wildcard services that embed an IP in the subdomain (e.g., nip.io, sslip.io).
- Category
- dns
- Author
- MahirAli Khan (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2026-11-05
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
ATT&CK techniques
C2Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule matches DNS queries whose names end with domains associated with IP-embedding wildcard DNS services. These services dynamically resolve subdomains that contain an encoded IP address, which can be abused to stand up infrastructure or communication endpoints without registering a custom domain. Detection relies on DNS query telemetry where the queried name suffix is available for pattern matching.
Reporting behind it
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
title: Network DNS Queries to IP-Embedding Wildcard DNS Services
id: 086a1201-640f-46a9-8778-1eb8822291ed
related:
- id: 4f8a1c2e-7d3b-4e5f-9a6c-0b1d2e3f4a5b
type: similar
- id: 139ddcb3-ba90-4407-b0b1-1838131ce8e7
type: derived
status: experimental
description: This rule matches DNS queries whose names end with domains associated with IP-embedding wildcard DNS services. These services dynamically resolve subdomains that contain an encoded IP address, which can be abused to stand up infrastructure or communication endpoints without registering a custom domain. Detection relies on DNS query telemetry where the queried name suffix is available for pattern matching.
references:
- https://nip.io/
- https://sslip.io/
- https://traefik.me/
- https://github.polettix.it/ETOOBUSY/2022/10/09/nip-io-sslip-io/
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/network/dns/net_dns_wildcard_dns_service.yml
author: MahirAli Khan, Huntrule Team
date: 2026-11-05
tags:
- attack.command-and-control
- attack.t1071.004
- attack.t1568
logsource:
category: dns
detection:
selection:
query|endswith:
- .1u.ms
- .backname.io
- .nip.io
- .sslip.io
- .traefik.me
- .xip.io
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Developers using nip.io or sslip.io to test local HTTPS setups or Kubernetes ingress rules without modifying /etc/hosts
- CI/CD pipelines that provision ephemeral review environments with dynamically generated hostnames (e.g. PR-based preview deployments)
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1