Detection: Potential Telegram API Request Via CommandLine

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: d6b0d627-d0bf-46b1-936f-c48284767d21 Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk, Zaki Zarkasih Al Mustafa Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the presence of "api.telegram.org" in the CommandLine of a process. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process execution logs that include command-line details. This activity can be significant as the telegram API has been used as an exfiltration mechanism or even as a C2 channel. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker or malware to exfiltrate data or receive additional C2 instruction, potentially leading to further compromise and persistence within the network.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
 3  WHERE Processes.process= "*api.telegram.org*" NOT Processes.process IN ("*-osint -url*", "* --single-argument*")
 4  BY Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name
 5     Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid
 6     Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path
 7     Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
 8     Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
 9     Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user
10     Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
11
12| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
13
14| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
15
16| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
17
18| `potential_telegram_api_request_via_commandline_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

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

potential_telegram_api_request_via_commandline_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
T1041	Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	Exfiltration
T1102.002	Bidirectional Communication	Command and Control

Actions on Objectives

Command and Control

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 Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

Anomaly detections generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events). They do not generate a Finding (Notable) directly.

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

False positive may stem from application or users requesting the API directly via CommandLine for testing purposes. Investigate the matches and apply the necessary filters.

Associated Analytic Story

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
Process $process_name$ with command line $process$ in $dest$	dest	system	20

Threat Objects

Field	Type
process_name	process_name

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: 10