ATT&CK coverage › Technique

Remote Access Tools: Remote Desktop Software T1219.002

An adversary may use legitimate desktop support software to establish an interactive command and control channel to target systems within networks. Desktop support software provides a graphical interface for remotely controlling another computer, transmitting the display output, keyboard input, and mouse control between devices using various protocols. Desktop support software, such as `VNC`, `Team Viewer`, `AnyDesk`, `ScreenConnect`, `LogMein`, `AmmyyAdmin`, and other remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, are commonly used as legitimate technical support software and may be allowed by application control within a target environment. Remote access modules/features may also exist as part of otherwise existing software such as Zoom or Google Chrome’s Remote Desktop.

Events covered

8 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon1Process creation
Sysmon3Network connection
Sysmon11FileCreate
Sysmon22DNSEvent (DNS query)
Security-Auditing4688A new process has been created.
NTLM8001NTLM client blocked audit: Audit outgoing NTLM authentication traffic that would be blocked.
MsiInstaller1033Windows Installer installed the product.
Service-Control-Manager7045A service was installed in the system.

Authoring guide

Patterns shared across the 37 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. Field names are normalized across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.

Fields filtered most (17 distinct)

The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.

FieldRulesHowSample values
Image17ends_with 16, match 5, eq 2, starts_with 2\AnyDesk.exe, \mstsc.exe, \AnyDeskMSI.exe, \Midori Next Generation.exe, C:\Program Files\Falkon\
TargetFilename9match 5, ends_with 5\AppData\Roaming\AnyDesk\system.conf, \AppData\Roaming\AnyDesk\user.conf, \AppData\Local\Temp\LogMeInInc\GoToAssist Remote Support Expert\, \Inveigh-Relay.ps1, \Inveigh.exe
Company8eq 8AnyDesk Software GmbH, LogMeIn, Inc., NetSupport Ltd, ScreenConnect Software, DucFabulous Co,ltd
Product8eq 8AnyDesk, GoTo Opener, LMIGuardianSvc, NetSupport Remote Control, ScreenConnect
CommandLine7match 7, ends_with 2.rdp", --meshServiceName, .rdp, C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\WSL\wslg.rdp, -code
Description7eq 7AnyDesk, GoTo Opener, LMIGuardianSvc, NetSupport Client Configurator, ScreenConnect Service
OriginalFileName6eq 5, match 1mstsc.exe, PCICFGUI.EXE, meshagent, UltraViewer_Desktop.exe, VNCViewer.exe
Provider_Name3eq 3Service Control Manager, MsiInstaller
QueryName3ends_with 2, starts_with 1, eq 1azurewebsites.net, relay.screenconnect.com, logmein-gateway.com, downloads.zohocdn.com, taf.teamviewer.com
ServiceName2match 2Mesh Agent, TacticalRMM Agent Service
ImagePath2match 2MeshAgent.exe, tacticalrmm.exe
ParentImage2eq 1, ends_with 1C:\Windows\System32\lxss\wslhost.exe, \meshagent.exe
Message1match 1AteraAgent
TargetName1starts_with 1TERMSRV
Initiated1eq 1false

Top indicator values (214 distinct)

Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique.

FieldKindValueRules (here)Corpus reach
Imageends_with\AnyDesk.exe45
Imageends_with\AnyDeskMSI.exe44
Imageends_with\mstsc.exe35
Imageends_with\slimbrowser.exe24
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeCore\211
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files\Avant Browser\24
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files\Naver\Naver Whale\24
ImageeqC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe211
Imageends_with\seamonkey.exe213
Imagematch\AppData\Local\Programs\midori-ng\23
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files (x86)\SlimBrowser\24
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files\Microsoft\EdgeCore\211
Imageends_with\opera.exe221
Imageends_with\safari.exe212
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\Application\210
Imagematch\AppData\Local\Programs\Opera\25
Imageends_with\Midori Next Generation.exe23
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files (x86)\Waterfox\24
Imagematch\AppData\Local\Maxthon\24
Imagestarts_withC:\Program Files\SlimBrowser\24

Rules under this technique

Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.

Sigma 37 rules