Suspicious SD-WAN Compromise Reverse Tunnel via gsocket

ATT&CK techniques

C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1090Proxy
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of the gsocket or gs-netcat tunneling utilities, matching the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN exploitation where operators deploy gsocket to establish an outbound relay through firewalls. The Global Socket toolkit provides resilient encrypted access that bypasses inbound restrictions on compromised network devices. Presence of these tools on an appliance indicates covert remote access.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Chisel Reverse Tunnel Execution by UAT-9686

Suspicious macOS Trojan-Proxy LaunchAgent GoogleHelperUpdater Persistence (via file_event)

Suspicious SD-WAN Compromise Reverse Tunnel via gsocket

Pivot detection · T1090 · 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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