Detection: Advanced IP or Port Scanner Execution

Updated Date: 2025-10-13 ID: 9a4e50c7-5b62-4d52-93b4-f2b61332e9a5 Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of network scanning utilities such as Advanced IP Scanner or Advanced Port Scanner. These legitimate administrative tools are often leveraged by threat actors and ransomware operators during the discovery phase to enumerate active hosts and open ports within a target environment. Detection is based on process creation telemetry referencing known executable names, original file names, or specific command-line parameters such as "/portable" and "/lng" that are characteristic of these tools. If confirmed malicious, this activity may indicate internal reconnaissance aimed at identifying reachable systems or services prior to lateral movement or further post-compromise actions.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
 3  count min(_time) as firstTime
 4        max(_time) as lastTime
 5
 6  from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
 7    Processes.process_name IN ("advanced_ip_scanner.exe", "advanced_ip_scanner_console.exe", "advanced_port_scanner.exe", "advanced_port_scanner_console.exe")
 8    OR
 9    Processes.original_file_name IN ("advanced_ip_scanner.exe", "advanced_ip_scanner_console.exe", "advanced_port_scanner.exe", "advanced_port_scanner_console.exe")
10    OR (
11    Processes.process = "* /portable *"
12    Processes.process = "* /lng *"
13    )
14
15  by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process
16     Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id
17     Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path Processes.process Processes.process_exec
18     Processes.process_guid Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
19     Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
20
21
22| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
23
24| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
25
26| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
27
28| `advanced_ip_or_port_scanner_execution_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	N/A	`'crowdstrike:events:sensor'`	`'crowdstrike'`
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`
Windows Event Log Security 4688	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Security'`

Macros Used

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

advanced_ip_or_port_scanner_execution_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
T1046	Network Service Discovery	Discovery
T1135	Network Share Discovery	Discovery

Exploitation

DE.AE

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 Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes node of the Endpoint data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.

Known False Positives

Legitimate administrators or IT staff may use Advanced IP or Port Scanner for authorized network management or inventory purposes. Validate the context of execution and apply any filters as necessary.

Associated Analytic Story

Windows Defense Evasion Tactics

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Execution of Advanced IP or Port Scanner detected via $process$ on $dest$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	64	No Threat Objects
user	user	64	No Threat Objects

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`

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