Skip to content
Merged
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
name: Cisco NVM - Browser Spawned Unix Shell with External Connection
id: 6f2de8d1-9a2d-4c7a-9b8c-3b8a2f7d0e41
version: 1
creation_date: '2026-09-02'
modification_date: '2026-09-02'
author: Maria Jose Erquiaga, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: |
Detects a Unix-based (Linux or macOS) browser process spawning a Unix shell that establishes an outbound connection to an external destination.
This browser-to-shell execution chain may indicate malicious browser content, drive-by execution, a compromised website, or abuse of a browser extension on Linux or macOS systems.
The behavior may also occur during legitimate development, installation, automation, or enterprise software workflows.
data_source:
- Cisco Network Visibility Module Flow Data
search: |
`cisco_network_visibility_module_flowdata`
process_path IN (
"*/bash",
"*/csh",
"*/dash",
"*/fish",
"*/sh",
"*/tcsh",
"*/zsh"
)
parent_process_path IN (
"*/arc", "*/brave", "*/brave-browser", "*/chrome", "*/chromium", "*/duckduckgo", "*/firefox", "*/firefox-bin",
"*/google chrome", "*/google-chrome", "*/librewolf", "*/microsoft edge", "*/msedge", "*/opera",
"*/opera gx", "*/safari", "*/tor browser", "*/vivaldi", "*/waterfox"
)
NOT dest IN (
"10.0.0.0/8", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.168.0.0/16", "100.64.0.0/10",
"127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "192.0.0.0/24", "192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32",
"192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32", "192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32", "192.0.2.0/24",
"192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "192.175.48.0/24",
"198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1"
)

| stats count
min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
values(parent_process_hash) as parent_process_hash
values(process_hash) as process_hash
values(module_name_list) as module_name_list
values(module_hash_list) as module_hash_list
values(dest_port) as dest_port
values(dest_hostname) as dest_hostname

by src src_ip dest dest_ip bytes_in bytes_out
user process_id process_name process_path process
parent_process_id parent_process_name parent_process_path parent_process

| table
firstTime lastTime user
parent_process_path parent_process_name parent_process parent_process_hash
process_path process_name process process_hash process_id
module_name_list module_hash_list
src src_ip dest_hostname dest dest_ip dest_port bytes_in bytes_out

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `cisco_nvm___browser_spawned_unix_shell_with_external_connection_filter`
how_to_implement: |
This search requires Network Visibility Module logs, which includes the flow data sourcetype.
This search uses an input macro named `cisco_network_visibility_module_flowdata`.
We strongly recommend that you specify your environment-specific configurations
(index, source, sourcetype, etc.) for Cisco Network Visibility Module logs.
Replace the macro definition with configurations for your Splunk environment.
The search also uses a post-filter macro designed to filter out known false positives.
The logs are to be ingested using the Splunk Add-on for Cisco Endpoint Security Analytics (CESA) (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/4221).
known_false_positives: |
Legitimate workflows may launch Unix command interpreters from browser contexts, including developer tooling, software installers, SSO helpers, browser extensions, and automation wrappers. Tuning may be required for approved applications, users, and destinations.
references:
- https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/
- https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/threats/socgholish/
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$src$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search src="$src$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$src$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$src$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
Comment thread
nasbench marked this conversation as resolved.
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
entities:
- field: src
type: system
score: 20
message: A Unix-based browser process [$parent_process$] spawned shell [$process$] on host [$src$], which made an outbound connection to external destination [$dest_hostname$] with IP [$dest_ip$] on port [$dest_port$].
threat_objects:
- field: process
type: process
- field: dest_ip
type: ip_address
- field: dest_hostname
type: domain
analytic_story:
- Cisco Network Visibility Module Analytics
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
- T1059
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test - Cisco NVM
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1059/macos_browser_spawned_script_external_network_connection/nvm_flowdata.log
source: not_applicable
sourcetype: cisco:nvm:flowdata:v2
test_type: unit
Loading