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ThreatFox: Cobalt Strike IOCs

ioc-hunt HIGH ThreatFox
CommonSecurityLogDeviceNetworkEvents
cobalt-strikeiocthreatfoxwin-cobalt_strike
This rule was pulled from an open-source repository and enriched with AI. Validate in a test environment before deploying to production.
View original rule at ThreatFox →
Retrieved: 2026-07-18T11:00:00Z · Confidence: high

Hunt Hypothesis

This hunt targets adversary behavior characterized by the deployment of Cobalt Strike beacons across the network to establish persistent command and control channels. Proactively hunting these specific indicators in Azure Sentinel is critical for early detection of advanced post-exploitation activities before they escalate into significant lateral movement or data exfiltration events.

IOC Summary

Malware Family: Cobalt Strike Total IOCs: 14 IOC Types: ip:port

TypeValueThreat TypeFirst SeenConfidence
ip:port159[.]94[.]211[.]163:14443botnet_cc2026-07-1875%
ip:port158[.]94[.]211[.]163:14443botnet_cc2026-07-1875%
ip:port47[.]101[.]51[.]235:1099botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port47[.]101[.]51[.]235:8000botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port47[.]101[.]51[.]235:8888botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port45[.]87[.]53[.]6:5003botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port45[.]87[.]53[.]6:18082botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port45[.]87[.]53[.]6:8888botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]167[.]177[.]224:6666botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]167[.]177[.]224:22botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]144[.]20[.]144:5004botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]144[.]20[.]144:53botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]144[.]19[.]224:5004botnet_cc2026-07-18100%
ip:port43[.]144[.]20[.]144:3306botnet_cc2026-07-17100%

KQL: Ip Hunt

// Hunt for network connections to known malicious IPs
// Source: ThreatFox - Cobalt Strike
let malicious_ips = dynamic(["45.87.53.6", "43.167.177.224", "43.144.19.224", "47.101.51.235", "158.94.211.163", "159.94.211.163", "43.144.20.144"]);
CommonSecurityLog
| where DestinationIP in (malicious_ips) or SourceIP in (malicious_ips)
| project TimeGenerated, SourceIP, DestinationIP, DestinationPort, DeviceAction, Activity
| order by TimeGenerated desc

KQL: Ip Hunt Device

// Hunt in Defender for Endpoint network events
let malicious_ips = dynamic(["45.87.53.6", "43.167.177.224", "43.144.19.224", "47.101.51.235", "158.94.211.163", "159.94.211.163", "43.144.20.144"]);
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where RemoteIP in (malicious_ips)
| project Timestamp, DeviceName, RemoteIP, RemotePort, InitiatingProcessFileName, ActionType
| order by Timestamp desc

Required Data Sources

Sentinel TableNotes
CommonSecurityLogEnsure this data connector is enabled
DeviceNetworkEventsEnsure this data connector is enabled

References

False Positive Guidance

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the ThreatFox: Cobalt Strike IOCs detection rule in an enterprise environment, along with suggested filters or exclusions:

Original source: https://threatfox.abuse.ch/browse/malware/win.cobalt_strike/