WordPress REST Batch Endpoint (wp2shell) POST Exploitation Activity

Alert on POST requests containing rest_route=/batch/v1 that return HTTP 207, consistent with wp2shell-style REST batch probing/exploitation.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v5
Category
webserver
Author
Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2026-07-19
Updated
2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Execution

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags requests that attempt to exploit the WordPress REST batch endpoint by sending HTTP POST traffic with a query parameter containing /batch/v1. It relies on webserver telemetry that records the HTTP method, the response status code, and the full request URI query, and it matches only when the server returns a 207 status that indicates the batch endpoint is reachable. The intent is to capture wp2shell-style probing and exploitation activity, where attackers leverage the batch route to progress through pre-auth exploitation stages.

Related detections9 linkedT1190 — drag to rearrange
Malicious SharePoint ToolShell Post-Exploitation via Encoded PowerShell (via process_creation)
Malicious Web Shell Written to SharePoint LAYOUTS Directory by Worker Process (via file_event)
Malicious MS-SQL Server Spawning Command Shell via Mallox
Malicious ActiveMQ CVE-2023-46604 Payload Download via curl or wget
Malicious WordPress Core SQL Injection Scanner via User-Agent
Malicious Command Shell Spawned by SQL Server via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Malicious Command Shell or PowerShell Spawned by Tomcat via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Suspicious Shell Script Execution From Temp Directory on SonicWall SMA1000 Appliance (via process_creation)
Possible TP-Link Command Injection via WlanNetworkRpm Endpoint (via webserver)
WordPress REST Batch Endpoint (wp2shell) POST Exploitation Activity
Pivot detection · T1190 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
  1. v5
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  5. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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