↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleMedium

Qakbot Campaign Self Deletion

Description

This query was originally published in the threat analytics report, Qakbot blight lingers, seeds ransomware Qakbot is malware that steals login credentials from banking and financial services. It has been deployed against small businesses as well as major corporations. Some outbreaks have involved targeted ransomware campaigns that use a similar set of techniques. Links to related queries are listed under See also. The following query detects if an instance of Qakbot has attempted to overwrite its original binary. Reference - https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2017/11/06/mitigating-and-eliminating-info-stealing-qakbot-and-emotet-in-corporate-networks/
Rule type
Scheduled
Version
1.0.0
Declared status
Available
Query frequency
1h
Query period
1h
Trigger
gt 0

Declared MITRE coverage

Declared sources

Metadata from the source file. No dependencies inferred from KQL.

Connectors

Data types

KQL query

Original query, unchanged.

DeviceProcessEvents 
| where FileName =~ "ping.exe"
| where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "cmd.exe"
| where (InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "calc.exe") and (InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "-n 6") and (InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "127.0.0.1")
| project TimeGenerated, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessParentFileName, DeviceId, DeviceName
| extend HostName = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.')), DeviceName)
| extend DnsDomain = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1), "")

Declared entities

Host

Related content

Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.

Source provenance

GitHub

Displayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.

Source identifier
47c02e21-3949-4e05-a28e-576cd75ff6f6
Additional source files 2Solutions/Microsoft Defender XDR/Analytic Rules/Defense Evasion/QakbotCampaignSelfDeletion.yamlsource ↗Solutions/Microsoft Defender XDR/Data/Solution_Microsoft Defender XDR.jsonsolution-membership ↗
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING

Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC

GSTEP sync dates, separate from the source content’s publication dates.