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T1071.004 DNS

Adversaries may communicate using the Domain Name System (DNS) application layer protocol to avoid detection/network filtering by blending in with existing traffic. Commands to the remote system, and often the results of those commands, will be embedded within the protocol traffic between the client and server.

The DNS protocol serves an administrative function in computer networking and thus may be very common in environments. DNS traffic may also be allowed even before network authentication is completed. DNS packets contain many fields and headers in which data can be concealed. Often known as DNS tunneling, adversaries may abuse DNS to communicate with systems under their control within a victim network while also mimicking normal, expected traffic.12

Item Value
ID T1071.004
Sub-techniques T1071.001, T1071.002, T1071.003, T1071.004
Tactics TA0011
Platforms Linux, Windows, macOS
Version 1.0
Created 15 March 2020
Last Modified 21 October 2020

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0504 Anchor Variants of Anchor can use DNS tunneling to communicate with C2.3334
G0026 APT18 APT18 uses DNS for C2 communications.55
G0087 APT39 APT39 has used remote access tools that leverage DNS in communications with C2.47
G0096 APT41 APT41 used DNS for C2 communications.4546
S0360 BONDUPDATER BONDUPDATER can use DNS and TXT records within its DNS tunneling protocol for command and control.17
G0114 Chimera Chimera has used Cobalt Strike to encapsulate C2 in DNS traffic.50
G0080 Cobalt Group Cobalt Group has used DNS tunneling for C2.565758
S0154 Cobalt Strike Cobalt Strike can use a custom command and control protocol that can be encapsulated in DNS. All protocols use their standard assigned ports.202122
S0338 Cobian RAT Cobian RAT uses DNS for C2.39
S0354 Denis Denis has used DNS tunneling for C2 communications.151611
S0377 Ebury Ebury has used DNS requests over UDP port 53 for C2.10
G0046 FIN7 FIN7 has performed C2 using DNS via A, OPT, and TXT records.49
S0477 Goopy Goopy has the ability to communicate with its C2 over DNS.11
S0690 Green Lambert Green Lambert can use DNS for C2 communications.3637
S0170 Helminth Helminth can use DNS for C2.44
S0070 HTTPBrowser HTTPBrowser has used DNS for command and control.1819
S0260 InvisiMole InvisiMole has used a custom implementation of DNS tunneling to embed C2 communications in DNS requests and replies.25
G0004 Ke3chang Ke3chang malware RoyalDNS has used DNS for C2.48
G0140 LazyScripter LazyScripter has leveraged dynamic DNS providers for C2 communications.54
S0167 Matryoshka Matryoshka uses DNS for C2.2728
S0699 Mythic Mythic supports DNS-based C2 profiles.7
S0228 NanHaiShu NanHaiShu uses DNS for the C2 communications.38
G0049 OilRig OilRig has used DNS for C2 including the publicly available requestbin.net tunneling service.51325253
S0124 Pisloader Pisloader uses DNS as its C2 protocol.35
S0013 PlugX PlugX can be configured to use DNS for command and control.18
S0145 POWERSOURCE POWERSOURCE uses DNS TXT records for C2.923
S0184 POWRUNER POWRUNER can use DNS for C2 communications.3132
S0269 QUADAGENT QUADAGENT uses DNS for C2 communications.8
S0495 RDAT RDAT has used DNS to communicate with the C2.40
S0125 Remsec Remsec is capable of using DNS for C2.121314
S0596 ShadowPad ShadowPad has used DNS tunneling for C2 communications.26
S0633 Sliver Sliver can support C2 communications over DNS.456
S0615 SombRAT SombRAT can communicate over DNS with the C2 server.2930
S0157 SOUNDBITE SOUNDBITE communicates via DNS for C2.24
S0559 SUNBURST SUNBURST used DNS for C2 traffic designed to mimic normal SolarWinds API communications.41
S0146 TEXTMATE TEXTMATE uses DNS TXT records for C2.9
G0081 Tropic Trooper Tropic Trooper‘s backdoor has communicated to the C2 over the DNS protocol.59
S0514 WellMess WellMess has the ability to use DNS tunneling for C2 communications.4243

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1037 Filter Network Traffic Consider filtering DNS requests to unknown, untrusted, or known bad domains and resources. Resolving DNS requests with on-premise/proxy servers may also disrupt adversary attempts to conceal data within DNS packets.
M1031 Network Intrusion Prevention Network intrusion detection and prevention systems that use network signatures to identify traffic for specific adversary malware can be used to mitigate activity at the network level.

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0029 Network Traffic Network Traffic Content

References


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