Reconnaissance

Threat actors utilize curl or nscurl on macOS to query public IP geolocation services for reconnaissance, enabling them to assess network context and stage follow-on malicious activity.

Adversaries frequently use public IP lookup services to perform network reconnaissance and verify egress connectivity prior to establishing C2 channels, a behavior detectable via DNS query analysis from suspicious processes.

Elastic Defend for Containers detects the use of compression utilities like tar or zip within Linux containers to collect sensitive files such as SSH keys, AWS credentials, or system configurations, indicating potential credential access and data collection attempts by adversaries.

An Elastic machine learning rule detects unusual Linux process discovery activity from atypical user contexts, indicating a potentially compromised account performing reconnaissance for privilege escalation or persistence on Linux systems.

Elastic's Data Exfiltration Detection integration leverages machine learning to identify rare processes writing data to external devices, indicating potential data exfiltration by adversaries using benign-looking processes.

Malware, including Trickbot and various stealers, utilizes DNS queries to public IP checking web services for reconnaissance purposes, aiming to determine the victim's external IP address, which can facilitate further attacks or lateral movement.

This brief details the detection of suspicious PowerShell script execution that targets the discovery of installed anti-virus and anti-spyware products using WMI or PowerShell commands, a common reconnaissance tactic employed by malicious actors to map security applications and potentially evade defenses.

A server-side request forgery vulnerability, CVE-2026-63769, in Huginn through version 2022.08.18 allows authenticated users to make arbitrary HTTP requests via crafted URLs, leading to internal network probing, port enumeration, and potential credential theft from cloud metadata endpoints.

This detection rule identifies suspicious activity in AWS environments where a single principal, from a consistent source IP, rapidly performs read-only S3 control-plane API calls across more than 15 distinct S3 buckets within a 10-second window, indicative of automated reconnaissance, security scanning, or post-compromise enumeration aiming to map S3 bucket access, policies, and versioning.

A new detection rule identifies rare instances where an identity performs AWS Organizations or IAM account enumeration APIs for the first time within a specified lookback window, indicative of an attacker attempting to map the AWS environment after compromising credentials.

An Elastic detection rule identifies when a single AWS identity, using the AWS CLI, performs more than five distinct read-only discovery API calls (such as Describe*, List*, Get*, and Generate*) across various AWS services within a 10-second window, indicating reconnaissance by an adversary using compromised credentials or an exploited EC2 instance to map the AWS infrastructure for potential targets and further exploitation.

An unknown sophisticated threat actor is leveraging DLL sideloading within the ViPNet update system to deploy a multi-stage malware suite, including HelloInjector, HelloProxy, HelloExecutor, HelloCleaner, and HelloBackdoor, to establish persistence, exfiltrate data, and maintain covert access to large Russian organizations in government, energy, and other critical sectors.

This brief describes detection of common reconnaissance commands executed through webshells on Windows systems, enabling defenders to identify post-exploitation discovery activities.

Adversaries leverage various built-in macOS utilities and commands, such as `dscl`, `dscacheutil`, `cat /etc/passwd`, `id`, `lsof`, `who`, `w`, `users`, `last`, `ls /Users`, `defaults`, and `plutil`, to enumerate local system accounts, facilitating lateral movement or privilege escalation within a compromised macOS environment.

This brief details the detection of Linux processes utilizing `curl` to contact known public IP address lookup web services, a common post-exploitation technique employed by malware and adversaries to ascertain a host's internet-facing IP, impacting reconnaissance and command-and-control tailoring.

This brief identifies inbound ICMP Timestamp (type 13) or Information (type 15) requests originating from external IP addresses and targeting internal RFC1918 destinations, a legacy diagnostic activity commonly associated with host and path fingerprinting during reconnaissance, active scanning, or OS fingerprinting efforts by an unidentified actor, indicating a potential prelude to more severe attacks.

This brief details the detection of potential SQL injection (SQLi) attempts against web servers by identifying common SQLi patterns in URLs and query strings, used by threat actors for reconnaissance, data exfiltration, or command execution, aiming for sensitive information disclosure or system compromise.

Malware and threat actors on Linux systems utilize the `curl` command to query public web services for external IP address discovery, a reconnaissance technique (T1016) that can precede further C2 establishment or targeted attacks.

This brief focuses on detecting the abuse of the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) utility to execute commands or query information on remote systems, a common technique used by attackers for lateral movement and reconnaissance within compromised networks.

Threat actor Volt Typhoon is observed using the built-in Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC.EXE) utility to perform system and volume discovery, gathering critical system information that can facilitate further network exploitation and data exfiltration.

Attackers and pentesters commonly use `wmic.exe` to query Windows service configurations for unquoted paths, a reconnaissance technique that identifies potential privilege escalation opportunities.

Aurora Stealer has been observed using the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) utility to perform extensive system reconnaissance, gathering details like OS version, CPU, GPU, disk drives, memory, and display resolution, indicating early-stage information gathering for subsequent data exfiltration or malware deployment.

Adversaries leverage the native Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) utility to perform service reconnaissance on remote systems, querying for existing services as a prelude to identifying potential targets for lateral movement or privilege escalation.

Adversaries are leveraging `wmic.exe` on Windows systems to perform reconnaissance, specifically enumerating installed antivirus, antispyware, and firewall products to aid in evasion and subsequent attack planning, posing a medium risk to affected organizations.

A threat brief details the use of `wmic.exe` by attackers to perform product reconnaissance, specifically to identify installed firewall and antivirus software, facilitating defense evasion and tailored attack execution.

Adversaries leverage the native Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) utility with the 'process' flag to perform discovery of running processes on compromised systems, enabling further stages of attack such as privilege escalation or lateral movement.

Attackers and pentesters utilize `wmic.exe` with the 'qfe' flag to enumerate installed hotfix updates on Windows systems, a common reconnaissance technique often preceding privilege escalation.

Adversaries utilize the legitimate Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool, specifically `wmic.exe group`, to perform reconnaissance on local system groups and identify users with elevated permissions on targeted Windows systems.

Adversaries leverage the built-in Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC.EXE) utility with the `csproduct` command to perform hardware model and vendor reconnaissance on target systems, a technique observed in campaigns utilizing infostealers like Kuraystealer, enabling further tailored attacks.

This brief details the use of `wmic.exe` with the `computersystem` flag for reconnaissance, a technique observed in campaigns by adversaries such as DEV-0270 (Phosphorus), to gather system information like domain, username, and model.

Threat actors utilize built-in Windows utilities like whoami, wmic, and net to perform local account and system owner discovery, a common post-exploitation reconnaissance technique facilitating privilege escalation and lateral movement.

This brief details the detection of reconnaissance and scanning tools through their characteristic User-Agent strings observed in web server logs, providing an early warning of potential targeted scanning activity against public-facing applications by adversaries seeking initial access.

Modification of critical SQL Server configuration options, such as 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 'external scripts enabled', 'Ole Automation Procedures', 'clr enabled', and 'clr strict security', can enable attackers to perform Active Directory reconnaissance and execute arbitrary code, potentially leading to code execution or reconnaissance activities.

An unidentified threat actor used Claude AI to identify and target a vNode SCADA/IIoT management interface at a Mexican water utility between December 2025 and February 2026, ultimately failing to gain access.

An AWS principal rapidly enumerates S3 bucket posture using read-only APIs, indicative of reconnaissance, scanning, or post-compromise activity.

An AWS principal rapidly enumerates S3 bucket configurations using read-only APIs, potentially indicating reconnaissance activity by security scanners, CSPM tools, or malicious actors performing post-compromise enumeration.

The OpenCanary Telnet Login Attempt detection identifies unauthorized login attempts to a Telnet service monitored by an OpenCanary node, indicating potential reconnaissance or intrusion attempts targeting the network.

An SSH connection attempt to an OpenCanary node indicates a potential adversary probing for vulnerable services or attempting unauthorized access within a network.

Adversaries perform Active Directory reconnaissance using built-in tools like nltest, whoami, and net.exe to map the environment before deploying ransomware.

Adversaries may use the SharpHound tool to collect Active Directory data, saving it into default JSON files for BloodHound analysis, potentially leading to privilege escalation or lateral movement.

This rule detects the execution of AdFind.exe with specific command-line arguments used for reconnaissance, often associated with threat actors like Wizard Spider, FIN6, and groups linked to SUNBURST, who use it to enumerate domain controllers.

AdFind.exe, a legitimate Active Directory query tool, is commonly abused by threat actors such as Trickbot, Ryuk, Maze, and FIN6 for post-exploitation Active Directory reconnaissance, enabling enumeration of objects like computers, people, subnets, and domain information.

An unusual spike in web server error codes (500, 502, 503, 504) may indicate reconnaissance activities like vulnerability scanning or fuzzing, where attackers probe for weaknesses, potentially leading to exploitation of server-side issues.

Adversaries may use ESXCLI system-level commands to retrieve configuration details on VMware ESXi hosts for reconnaissance purposes, potentially leading to further compromise.

An AWS principal from a single source IP rapidly invokes read-only S3 control-plane APIs, revealing bucket posture across many buckets in a short time, potentially indicating automated reconnaissance or post-compromise enumeration.

This rule detects potential web server discovery or fuzzing activity by identifying a high volume of HTTP GET requests resulting in 404 or 403 status codes from a single source IP address within a short timeframe, indicating attackers discovering hidden resources for targeted attacks.

Adversaries may copy device files, including configurations and packet captures, from Cisco ASA devices via CLI or ASDM for reconnaissance, credential extraction, or data exfiltration, which can be detected via command execution logs.

This detection identifies potential reconnaissance activity by an attacker attempting to discover AWS IAM permissions and configurations by generating a high volume of access denied events.

Detection of the AzureHound User-Agent in Azure AD logs indicates potential reconnaissance activity by adversaries mapping the Azure AD infrastructure for vulnerabilities.

This detection identifies potential reconnaissance activities on Windows systems by adversaries using tools like `wevtutil.exe`, `wmic.exe`, and PowerShell cmdlets to query event logs for sensitive information.

This analytic detects suspicious PowerShell activity leveraging WMI to gather system information, potentially indicating reconnaissance by an attacker.

This rule identifies potentially unsecured Elasticsearch nodes that lack TLS and/or authentication and are accepting inbound network connections, which could allow adversaries to gain initial access, exfiltrate data, or disrupt services.

Adversaries may perform reconnaissance in a Kubernetes environment by rapidly querying multiple resource types to map the environment and identify potential privilege escalation paths.

Attackers use PowerShell to query the Windows registry's Uninstall key to discover installed software and identify potential vulnerabilities for exploitation.

Detection of unusual spikes in web server requests with uncommon or suspicious user-agent strings indicative of reconnaissance attempts to identify web application vulnerabilities or brute-force attacks.

Adversaries may attempt to enumerate local network configurations on Linux systems using common utilities like arp, ifconfig, ip, netstat, firewall-cmd, ufw, iptables, ss, and route to gather information for reconnaissance and subsequent attacks, leading to network mapping and vulnerability identification.

The use of command-line tools like ping.exe or arp.exe with obfuscated IP addresses (hex, octal, etc.) in the command line can indicate reconnaissance activity or attempts to evade security controls by masking the true destination.

This analytic detects potential reconnaissance on Cisco ASA devices by identifying execution of multiple information-gathering 'show' commands within a short timeframe, indicating potential enumeration by an attacker.

Detection of excessive AWS API calls indicative of reconnaissance by an attacker attempting to map an AWS environment.

Detects the execution of ADExplorer, a tool used for Active Directory viewing and editing, which can be abused by adversaries for domain reconnaissance and creating offline snapshots of the AD database.

Detection of a high number of AccessDenied errors when attempting to list AWS Bedrock foundation models, indicating potential reconnaissance activity after credential compromise to discover accessible AI models.

Detection of Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) usage for reconnaissance by querying common Win32 WMI classes for system information, potentially indicating post-exploitation activity.

Detection of web server discovery or fuzzing activity indicated by a high volume of HTTP GET requests resulting in 404 or 403 status codes originating from a single source IP address within a short timeframe, suggesting attempts to discover hidden resources.

Detection of potential web server discovery or fuzzing activity characterized by a high volume of HTTP GET requests resulting in 404 or 403 status codes originating from a single source IP address within a short timeframe, indicating attackers are probing for hidden resources.

This rule identifies suspicious activity where enumeration commands are spawned via the Windows Management Instrumentation Provider Service (WMIPrvSE) to gather system and network information.

An unsigned or untrusted binary on macOS is performing DNS requests for IP lookup services to determine the system's external IP address, which is commonly used by malware for reconnaissance before establishing C2 connections.

This analytic detects potential reconnaissance activities within a Kubernetes environment by identifying repeated failed access attempts or unusual API requests from unauthenticated users based on Kubernetes audit logs, indicating a potential attacker's preliminary reconnaissance.

Detection of a rare user or role accessing AWS Systems Manager (SSM) inventory APIs or running the AWS-GatherSoftwareInventory job, potentially indicating reconnaissance activity by threat actors seeking information about managed EC2 instances.

The execution of AdFind.exe, an Active Directory query tool, is often used by threat actors for post-exploitation Active Directory reconnaissance, as observed in campaigns involving Trickbot, Ryuk, Maze, and FIN6.