Visual Studio Code Tunnel Service Installation — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2023-10-25 / not supplied.

{
  "category": "process_creation",
  "product": "windows"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: eff4cb0340f4f985b4d9c482a02161d6823387a0ed584df9b4d2df11f344a9ed

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Service Installation
id: 30bf1789-379d-4fdc-900f-55cd0a90a801
status: test
description: Detects the installation of VsCode tunnel (code-tunnel) as a service.
references:
    - https://ipfyx.fr/post/visual-studio-code-tunnel/
    - https://badoption.eu/blog/2023/01/31/code_c2.html
    - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/tunnels
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-10-25
tags:
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.t1071.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'tunnel '
            - 'service'
            - 'internal-run'
            - 'tunnel-service.log'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate installation of code-tunnel as a service
level: medium

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate installation of code-tunnel as a service

Source references

• https://ipfyx.fr/post/visual-studio-code-tunnel/
• https://badoption.eu/blog/2023/01/31/code_c2.html
• https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/tunnels