ThreatFox: PureRAT IOCs | SOC Hunt Feed

Hunt Hypothesis

This hunt detects adversary activity involving the four specific indicators of compromise (IOCs) linked to the PureRAT remote access trojan, which is known for enabling persistent command and control capabilities on compromised endpoints. A SOC team should proactively hunt for these IOCs within Azure Sentinel to identify early-stage infections before attackers establish deep persistence or exfiltrate sensitive data through the RAT’s communication channels.

IOC Summary

Malware Family: PureRAT Total IOCs: 4 IOC Types: ip:port

Type	Value	Threat Type	First Seen	Confidence
ip:port	`203[.]159[.]90[.]155:56002`	botnet_cc	2026-08-23	75%
ip:port	`196[.]251[.]121[.]124:56001`	botnet_cc	2026-08-23	75%
ip:port	`194[.]9[.]6[.]125:443`	botnet_cc	2026-08-23	75%
ip:port	`154[.]201[.]82[.]106:56003`	botnet_cc	2026-08-23	75%

KQL: Ip Hunt

// Hunt for network connections to known malicious IPs
// Source: ThreatFox - PureRAT
let malicious_ips = dynamic(["203.159.90.155", "154.201.82.106", "194.9.6.125", "196.251.121.124"]);
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(["203.159.90.155", "154.201.82.106", "194.9.6.125", "196.251.121.124"]);
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, including targeted filters and exclusions tailored for an enterprise environment:

Legitimate Endpoint Management Scans
- Scenario: Enterprise EDR agents (e.g., CrowdStrike Falcon or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint) periodically scan network traffic or process memory against a global threat intelligence feed. If the PureRAT IOCs are present in the vendor’s internal whitelist or the agent is querying an external reputation service that shares these specific hashes, the detection may trigger during routine health checks.
- Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes where the ParentProcessName matches known EDR agents (e.g., FalconSensor.exe, MsMpEng.exe) and the UserAccount is a system service account (e.g., NT SERVICE\DefenderSvc).
Scheduled Software Deployment via SCCM/Intune
- Scenario: During nightly maintenance windows, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) or Microsoft Intune deploys security updates or patches to endpoints. If the deployment package includes a component that references one of the PureRAT IOCs (e.g., a shared DLL or installer hash), the rule triggers during the installation phase.
- Filter/Exclusion: Create an exclusion for events occurring between 01:00 and 05:00 local time where the ProcessName is ccmsetup.exe or MicrosoftEdgeUpdate.exe, specifically when initiated by the SYSTEM user account.
IT Admin Remote Maintenance Sessions
- Scenario: IT administrators perform remote troubleshooting using tools like TeamViewer, AnyDesk, or Citrix Workspace. These tools often inject specific DLLs or spawn helper processes that may share a hash with one of the PureRAT IOCs while establishing secure connections to management