Suspicious Outbound Network Connection from explorer.exe
- Product
- windows
- Category
- network_connection
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-09-17
- Updated
- 2026-09-17
ATT&CK techniques
Priv Esc → C2Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects explorer.exe initiating an outbound network connection to an external host, anomalous behavior consistent with the DOUBLELOADER backdoor injecting into explorer.exe and beaconing to command-and-control. explorer.exe does not normally make direct external connections, so this pattern indicates process injection and covert C2.
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.
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