Detection: Socat Network Listener Binding an Executable

Updated Date: 2026-08-27 ID: 72482d45-1d05-46f5-bb6c-e2b709a8073a Author: Maria Jose Erquiaga, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of the socat utility with command-line arguments that configure a TCP or OpenSSL listener and bind an executable to incoming connections. Socat is a legitimate network utility, but this behavior may be used to expose executables, establish bind shells, facilitate remote command execution, or support lateral movement.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
 3  count
 4  min(_time) as firstTime
 5  max(_time) as lastTime
 6
 7from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
 8
 9Processes.process_name="socat*"
10Processes.process="*exec:*"
11Processes.process="*-listen:*"
12
13by Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process_id
14   Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
15   Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id
16   Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_name
17   Processes.process_path Processes.user
18   Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
19
20
21| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
22
23| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
24
25| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
26
27| `socat_network_listener_binding_an_executable_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Osquery Results	Other	`'osquery:results'`	`'osquery'`
Sysmon for Linux EventID 1	Linux	`'sysmon:linux'`	`'Syslog:Linux-Sysmon/Operational'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
socat_network_listener_binding_an_executable_filter	`search *`

socat_network_listener_binding_an_executable_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1059	Command and Scripting Interpreter	Execution
T1572	Protocol Tunneling	Command and Control

Command and Control

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

This detection uses osquery and endpoint security on MacOS. Follow the link in references, which describes how to setup process auditing in MacOS with endpoint security and osquery. Also the TA-OSquery must be deployed across your indexers and universal forwarders in order to have the osquery data populate the data models.

Known False Positives

Developers, network engineers, and system administrators may use socat to expose benign executables for protocol testing, debugging, data transformation, or troubleshooting.

Associated Analytic Story

MacOS Post-Exploitation

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
Socat was executed with a TCP or OpenSSL listener configured to pass inbound connections to an executable via [$process$] on endpoint [$dest$] by user [$user$].	dest	system	50

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
Socat was executed with a TCP or OpenSSL listener configured to pass inbound connections to an executable via [$process$] on endpoint [$dest$] by user [$user$].	user	user	50

Threat Objects

Field	Type
process	process

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`osqueryd.results.log`	`osquery:results`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`osqueryd.results.log`	`osquery:results`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub |

Version: 1