ThreatFox: PureRAT IOCs | SOC Hunt Feed

Hunt Hypothesis

This hunt detects adversary activity involving known Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) linked to the PureRAT remote access trojan, which is frequently used by threat actors for persistent command and control operations. Proactively hunting for these IOCs in Azure Sentinel allows the SOC team to identify early-stage infections and mitigate potential data exfiltration or lateral movement before the malware establishes a foothold within the network.

IOC Summary

Malware Family: PureRAT Total IOCs: 9 IOC Types: ip:port

Type	Value	Threat Type	First Seen	Confidence
ip:port	`94[.]26[.]3[.]17:56003`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`5[.]175[.]182[.]184:443`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`199[.]231[.]191[.]3:443`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`154[.]13[.]7[.]183:56003`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`136[.]0[.]213[.]135:56001`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`136[.]0[.]213[.]135:56002`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`105[.]158[.]184[.]163:443`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`104[.]143[.]46[.]142:56002`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%
ip:port	`104[.]143[.]46[.]142:56001`	botnet_cc	2026-08-31	75%

KQL: Ip Hunt

// Hunt for network connections to known malicious IPs
// Source: ThreatFox - PureRAT
let malicious_ips = dynamic(["105.158.184.163", "136.0.213.135", "199.231.191.3", "94.26.3.17", "154.13.7.183", "5.175.182.184", "104.143.46.142"]);
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(["105.158.184.163", "136.0.213.135", "199.231.191.3", "94.26.3.17", "154.13.7.183", "5.175.182.184", "104.143.46.142"]);
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where RemoteIP in (malicious_ips)
| project Timestamp, DeviceName, RemoteIP, RemotePort, InitiatingProcessFileName, ActionType
| order by Timestamp desc

Required Data Sources

Sentinel Table	Notes
`CommonSecurityLog`	Ensure this data connector is enabled
`DeviceNetworkEvents`	Ensure this data connector is enabled

References

ThreatFox — PureRAT

False Positive Guidance

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the ThreatFox: PureRAT IOCs detection rule, along with targeted filters and exclusions suitable for an enterprise environment:

Scenario: Endpoint Security Scans on Known Clean Repositories
- Context: Enterprise EDR agents (e.g., Microsoft Defender for Endpoint or CrowdStrike Falcon) frequently scan software installation packages stored in internal repositories. If a legitimate deployment package contains a shared library or certificate that matches one of the PureRAT IOCs, it triggers an alert during routine scans.
- Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes originating from trusted EDR services (e.g., MsMpEng.exe, Cfsensservice.exe) when accessing files within the internal Software Distribution Network (SDN) or specific file shares like \\FileServer\Apps\Deployments.
Scenario: Scheduled Maintenance Jobs Executing Legacy Scripts
- Context: IT Operations teams often run scheduled PowerShell or Python scripts via Windows Task Scheduler to perform inventory updates. These scripts may utilize a third-party HTTP client library (e.g., requests in Python) that shares a specific hash or network signature with the PureRAT IOCs, causing false hits during nightly maintenance windows (02:00–04:00).
- Filter/Exclusion: Create an exclusion rule for process names matching powershell.exe and python.exe when launched by the “SYSTEM” account or specific service accounts (e.g., svc-maintenance) during defined maintenance windows, provided the destination IP is within the internal subnet range.
Scenario: Development Environment CI/CD Pipeline Artifacts
- Context: In DevOps environments, Continuous Integration tools like Jenkins or GitLab Runners frequently download build artifacts and dependencies from public registries (e.g., Maven Central, npm). If a dependency