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Windows PowerShell Invoke-RestMethod IP Information Collection

Author
Michael Haag, Splunk
Source
upstream

The following analytic detects the use of PowerShell's Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet to collect geolocation data from ipinfo.io or IP address information from api.ipify.org. This behavior leverages PowerShell Script Block Logging to identify scripts that gather external IP information and potential geolocation data. This activity is significant as it may indicate reconnaissance efforts, where threat actors are attempting to determine the geographical location or network details of a compromised system. While some legitimate software may use these services, this pattern is commonly observed in malware and post-exploitation toolkits like those used by Water Gamayun threat actors.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
ExecutionT1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell
DiscoveryT1016 System Network Configuration Discovery, T1082 System Information Discovery

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
PowerShell4104Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal).

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

search (ScriptBlockText="*api.ipify.org*" OR ScriptBlockText="*ipinfo.io*") EventCode=4104 ScriptBlockText="*Invoke-RestMethod*"

Stage 2: stats

stats BY dest, signature, signature_id, user_id, vendor_product, Guid, Opcode, Name, Path, ProcessID, ScriptBlockId, ScriptBlockText

Stage 3: search

search

Stage 4: search

search

Stage 5: search

search `macro`

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
EventCodeeq
  • 4104 corpus 108 (splunk 108)
ScriptBlockTexteq
  • "*Invoke-RestMethod*"
  • "*api.ipify.org*"
  • "*ipinfo.io*"

Neighbors

Broader alternatives (more inclusive than this rule)

These rules match a superset of what this rule catches. They cover the same events plus more. Use them if you want wider coverage and can absorb more false positives.