alirezaaminzadeh/secembed-pairs huggingface dataset:
Query: incident response steps for EDR alert: possible Downgrade Attack (T1689)
Matching passage: Playbook for T1689 Downgrade Attack. 1) Validate alert telemetry against T1689. 2) Scope affected hosts and accounts. 3) Contain by isolating endpoint / disabling account if confirmed. 4) Hunt for related tactics: defense impairment. 5) Eradicate persistence and recover. Reference detection notes: Adversaries may downgrade or use a version of system features that may be outdated, vulnerable, and/or does not support updated security controls. Downgrade attacks typically take advantage of a system’s backward compatibility to force it into less secure modes of operation. Adversaries may downgrade and use various less-secure versions of features of a system, such as [Command and Scripting Inter
Near-miss passage: Playbook for T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs. Different response path focused on defense impairment.
Query: indicators of Archive Collected Data
Matching passage: T1560 Archive Collected Data. Tactics: collection. Description: An adversary may compress and/or encrypt data that is collected prior to exfiltration. Compressing the data can help to obfuscate the collected data and minimize the amount of data sent over the network.(Citation: DOJ GRU Indictment Jul 2018) Encryption can be used to hide information that is being exfiltrated from detection or make exfiltration less conspicuous upon inspection by a defender. Both compression and encryption are done prior to exfiltration, and can be performed using a utility, 3rd party library, or custom method.
Near-miss passage: T1560.001 Archive via Utility. Tactics: collection. Description: Adversaries may use utilities to compress and/or encrypt collected data prior to exfiltration. Many utilities include functionalities to compress, encrypt, or otherwise package data into a format that is easier/more secure to transport. Adversaries may abuse various utilities to compress or encrypt data before exfiltration. Some third party utilities may be preinstalled, such as <code>tar</code> on Linux and macOS or <code>zip</code> on Windows systems. On Windows, <code>diantz</code> or <code> makecab</code> may be used to package collected files into a cabinet (.cab) file. <code>diantz</code> may also be used to download and compress files from remote locations (i.e. [Remote Data Staging](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1074/002)).(Citation: diantz.exe_lolbas) <code>xcopy</code> on Windows can copy files and directories with a variety of options. Additionally, adversaries may use [certutil](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0160) to Base64 encode collected data before exfiltration. Adversaries may use also third party utilities, such as 7-Zip, WinRAR, and WinZip, to perform similar activities.(Citation: 7zip Homepage)(Citation: WinRAR Homepage)(Citation: WinZip Homepage)
Query: threat report mentioning ROMMONkit
Matching passage: T1542.004 ROMMONkit. Tactics: stealth, persistence. Description: Adversaries may abuse the ROM Monitor (ROMMON) by loading an unauthorized firmware with adversary code to provide persistent access and manipulate device behavior that is difficult to detect. (Citation: Cisco Synful Knock Evolution)(Citation: Cisco Blog Legacy Device Attacks) ROMMON is a Cisco network device firmware that functions as a boot loader, boot image, or boot helper to initialize hardware and software when the platform is powered on or reset. Similar to [TFTP Boot](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1542/005), an adversary may upgrade the ROMMON image locally or remotely (for example, through TFTP) with adversary code and restart the device in order to overwrite the existing ROMMON image. This provides adversaries with the means to update the ROMMON to gain persistence on a system in a way that may be difficult to detect.
Near-miss passage: T1542.003 Bootkit. Tactics: stealth, persistence. Description: Adversaries may use bootkits to persist on systems. A bootkit is a malware variant that modifies the boot sectors of a hard drive, allowing malicious code to execute before a computer's operating system has loaded. Bootkits reside at a layer below the operating system and may make it difficult to perform full remediation unless an organization suspects one was used and can act accordingly. In BIOS systems, a bootkit may modify the Master Boot Record (MBR) and/or Volume Boot Record (VBR).(Citation: Mandiant M Trends 2016) The MBR is the section of disk that is first loaded after completing hardware initialization by the BIOS. It is the location of the boot loader. An adversary who has raw access to the boot drive may overwrite this area, diverting execution during startup from the normal boot loader to adversary code.(Citation: Lau 2011) The MBR passes control of the boot process to the VBR. Similar to the case of MBR, an adversary who has raw access to the boot drive may overwrite the VBR to divert execution during startup to adversary code. In UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) systems, a bootkit may instead create or modify files in the EFI system partition (ESP). The ESP is a partition on data storage used by devices containing UEFI that allows the system to boot the OS and other utilities used by the system. An adversary can use the newly created or patched files in the ESP to run malicious kernel code.(Citation: Microsoft Security)(Citation: welivesecurity)
Query: risk of HPE UCMDB Browser before 4.02 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information or bypass intended access restrictions via unspecified vectors.
Matching passage: CVE-2015-6862. CWE: CWE-200. CVSS: 8.399999618530273. HPE UCMDB Browser before 4.02 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information or bypass intended access restrictions via unspecified vectors.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-6858. CWE: CWE-200. CVSS: 3.700000047683716. HP Insight Control server provisioning before 7.5.0 RabbitMQ allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.
Query: vulnerability: Directory traversal vulnerability in the WP e-Commerce Shop Styling plugin before 2.6 for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the filena
Matching passage: CVE-2015-5468. CWE: CWE-22. CVSS: 7.5. Directory traversal vulnerability in the WP e-Commerce Shop Styling plugin before 2.6 for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the filename parameter to includes/download.php.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-5469. CWE: CWE-22. CVSS: 7.5. Absolute path traversal vulnerability in the MDC YouTube Downloader plugin 2.1.0 for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a full pathname in the file parameter to includes/download.php.
Query: risk of The SSLv2 implementation in OpenSSL before 0.9.8zf, 1.0.0 before 1.0.0r, 1.0.1 before 1.0.1m, and 1.0.2 before 1.0.2a allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (s2_lib.c
Matching passage: CVE-2015-0293. CWE: CWE-20. CVSS: 5.0. The SSLv2 implementation in OpenSSL before 0.9.8zf, 1.0.0 before 1.0.0r, 1.0.1 before 1.0.1m, and 1.0.2 before 1.0.2a allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (s2_lib.c assertion failure and daemon exit) via a crafted CLIENT-MASTER-KEY message.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-0636. CWE: CWE-20. CVSS: 7.800000190734863. The Autonomic Networking Infrastructure (ANI) implementation in Cisco IOS 12.2, 12.4, 15.0, 15.2, 15.3, and 15.4 and IOS XE 3.10.xS through 3.13.xS before 3.13.1S allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disrupted domain access) via spoofed AN messages that reset a finite state machine, aka Bug ID CSCup62293.
Query: detection engineering for Cron
Matching passage: T1053.003 Cron. Tactics: execution, persistence, privilege escalation. Description: Adversaries may abuse the <code>cron</code> utility to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code.(Citation: 20 macOS Common Tools and Techniques) The <code>cron</code> utility is a time-based job scheduler for Unix-like operating systems. The <code> crontab</code> file contains the schedule of cron entries to be run and the specified times for execution. Any <code>crontab</code> files are stored in operating system-specific file paths. An adversary may use <code>cron</code> in Linux or Unix environments to execute programs at system startup or on a scheduled basis for [Persistence](https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003). In ESXi environments, cron jobs must be created directly via the crontab file (e.g., `/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root`).(Citation: CloudSEK ESXiArgs 2023)
Near-miss passage: T1053 Scheduled Task/Job. Tactics: execution, persistence, privilege escalation. Description: Adversaries may abuse task scheduling functionality to facilitate initial or recurring execution of malicious code. Utilities exist within all major operating systems to schedule programs or scripts to be executed at a specified date and time. A task can also be scheduled on a remote system, provided the proper authentication is met (ex: RPC and file and printer sharing in Windows environments). Scheduling a task on a remote system typically may require being a member of an admin or otherwise privileged group on the remote system.(Citation: TechNet Task Scheduler Security) Adversaries may use task scheduling to execute programs at system startup or on a scheduled basis for persistence. These mechanisms can also be abused to run a process under the context of a specified account (such as one with elevated permissions/privileges). Similar to [System Binary Proxy Execution](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218), adversaries have also abused task scheduling to potentially mask one-time execution under a trusted system process.(Citation: ProofPoint Serpent)
Query: Sigma YAML for windows / process_creation
Matching passage: Sigma rule: Detects a child process spawned by 'winrshost.exe', which suggests remote command execution through Windows Remote Shell. Logsource: windows / process_creation. Rule: title: Potential Lateral Movement via Windows Remote Shell id: 79df3f68-dccb-48e9-9171-b75cbc37c51d status: experimental description: 'Detects a child process spawned by ''winrshost.exe'', which suggests remote command execution through Windows Remote Shell (WinRs) and may indicate potential lateral movement activity. ' references: - https://cardinalops.com/blog/living-off-winrm-abusing-complexity-in-remote-management/ - https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/lateral-movement/winrs-for-lateral-movement author: Liran Ravich date: 2025-10-22 tags: - attack.lateral-movement - attack.t1021.006 logsource: category: process_creation product: windows detection: selection: ParentImage|endswith: \winrshost.exe filter_main_conhost: Image: C:\Windows\System32\conhost.exe condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* falsepositives: - Legitimate use of WinRM within the organization level: medium
Near-miss passage: Sigma rule: Detects execution of JavaScript or JSC files using NodeJs binary node.exe, that could be potentially suspicious. Node.js. Logsource: windows / process_creation. Rule: title: NodeJS Execution of JavaScript File id: ba3874b9-0fae-465f-836c-eb5d071a1789 status: experimental description: 'Detects execution of JavaScript or JSC files using NodeJs binary node.exe, that could be potentially suspicious. Node.js is a popular open-source JavaScript runtime that runs code outside browsers and is widely used for both frontend and backend development. Adversaries have been observed abusing Node.js to disguise malware as legitimate processes, evade security defenses, and maintain persistence within target systems. Because Node.js is commonly used, this rule may generate false positives in some environments. However, if such activity is unusual in your environment, it is highly suspicious and warrants immediate investigation. ' references: - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/04/15/threat-actors-misuse-node-js-to-deliver-malware-and-other-malicious-payloads/ author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) date: 2025-04-21 tags: - attack.execution - attack.t1059.007 logsource: category: process_creation product: windows detection: selection_img: - Image|endswith: \node.exe - OriginalFileName: node.exe - Product: Node.js selection_cmd: CommandLine|contains: .js condition: all of selection_* falsepositives: - Legitimate use of node.exe to execute JavaScript or JSC files on your environment level: low
Query: intelligence brief on T1136
Matching passage: T1136 Create Account. Tactics: persistence. Description: Adversaries may create an account to maintain access to victim systems.(Citation: Symantec WastedLocker June 2020) With a sufficient level of access, creating such accounts may be used to establish secondary credentialed access that do not require persistent remote access tools to be deployed on the system. Accounts may be created on the local system or within a domain or cloud tenant. In cloud environments, adversaries may create accounts that only have access to specific services, which can reduce the chance of detection.
Near-miss passage: T1136.003 Cloud Account. Tactics: persistence. Description: Adversaries may create a cloud account to maintain access to victim systems. With a sufficient level of access, such accounts may be used to establish secondary credentialed access that does not require persistent remote access tools to be deployed on the system.(Citation: Microsoft O365 Admin Roles)(Citation: Microsoft Support O365 Add Another Admin, October 2019)(Citation: AWS Create IAM User)(Citation: GCP Create Cloud Identity Users)(Citation: Microsoft Azure AD Users) In addition to user accounts, cloud accounts may be associated with services. Cloud providers handle the concept of service accounts in different ways. In Azure, service accounts include service principals and managed identities, which can be linked to various resources such as OAuth applications, serverless functions, and virtual machines in order to grant those resources permissions to perform various activities in the environment.(Citation: Microsoft Entra ID Service Principals) In GCP, service accounts can also be linked to specific resources, as well as be impersonated by other accounts for [Temporary Elevated Cloud Access](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/005).(Citation: GCP Service Accounts) While AWS has no specific concept of service accounts, resources can be directly granted permission to assume roles.(Citation: AWS Instance Profiles)(Citation: AWS Lambda Execution Role) Adversaries may create accounts that only have access to specific cloud services, which can reduce the chance of detection. Once an adversary has created a cloud account, they can then manipulate that account to ensure persistence and allow access to additional resources - for example, by adding [Additional Cloud Credentials](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/001) or assigning [Additional Cloud Roles](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/003).
Query: patch priority for CVE-2015-4992
Matching passage: CVE-2015-4992. CWE: CWE-20. CVSS: 3.5. IBM Sterling B2B Integrator 5.2 before 5020500_8 allows remote authenticated users to conduct clickjacking attacks via unspecified vectors.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-2472. CWE: CWE-20. CVSS: 4.300000190734863. Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) in Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) through 8.1 in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, and Windows RT Gold and 8.1 does not properly verify certificates, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof clients via a crafted certificate with valid Issuer and Serial Number fields, aka "Remote Desktop Session Host Spoofing Vulnerability."
Query: risk of NSXMLParser in Foundation in Apple iOS before 8.3 and Apple TV before 7.2 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an external entity declaration in conjunction with an 
Matching passage: CVE-2015-1092. CWE: UNKNOWN. CVSS: 5.0. NSXMLParser in Foundation in Apple iOS before 8.3 and Apple TV before 7.2 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-0502. CWE: UNKNOWN. CVSS: 4.300000190734863. Unspecified vulnerability in the Siebel UI Framework component in Oracle Siebel CRM 8.1 and 8.2 allows remote attackers to affect integrity via unknown vectors related to Portal Framework.
Query: patch priority for CVE-2015-3123
Matching passage: CVE-2015-3123. CWE: CWE-119. CVSS: 10.0. Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.302 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.203 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.481 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 18.0.0.180, Adobe AIR SDK before 18.0.0.180, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 18.0.0.180 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-3117, CVE-2015-3130, CVE-2015-3133, CVE-2015-3134, and CVE-2015-4431.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-3734. CWE: CWE-119. CVSS: 6.800000190734863. WebKit, as used in Apple iOS before 8.4.1 and Safari before 6.2.8, 7.x before 7.1.8, and 8.x before 8.0.8, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted web site, a different vulnerability than other WebKit CVEs listed in APPLE-SA-2015-08-13-1 and APPLE-SA-2015-08-13-3.
Query: campaign using SMS Pumping
Matching passage: T1496.003 SMS Pumping. Tactics: impact. Description: Adversaries may leverage messaging services for SMS pumping, which may impact system and/or hosted service availability.(Citation: Twilio SMS Pumping) SMS pumping is a type of telecommunications fraud whereby a threat actor first obtains a set of phone numbers from a telecommunications provider, then leverages a victim’s messaging infrastructure to send large amounts of SMS messages to numbers in that set. By generating SMS traffic to their phone number set, a threat actor may earn payments from the telecommunications provider.(Citation: Twilio SMS Pumping Fraud) Threat actors often use publicly available web forms, such as one-time password (OTP) or account verification fields, in order to generate SMS traffic. These fields may leverage services such as Twilio, AWS SNS, and Amazon Cognito in the background.(Citation: Twilio SMS Pumping)(Citation: AWS RE:Inforce Threat Detection 2024) In response to the large quantity of requests, SMS costs may increase and communication channels may become overwhelmed.(Citation: Twilio SMS Pumping)
Near-miss passage: T1496.004 Cloud Service Hijacking. Tactics: impact. Description: Adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, which may impact hosted service availability. For example, adversaries may leverage email and messaging services, such as AWS Simple Email Service (SES), AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), SendGrid, and Twilio, in order to send large quantities of spam / [Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566) emails and SMS messages.(Citation: Invictus IR DangerDev 2024)(Citation: Permiso SES Abuse 2023)(Citation: SentinelLabs SNS Sender 2024) Alternatively, they may engage in LLMJacking by leveraging reverse proxies to hijack the power of cloud-hosted AI models.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024)(Citation: Lacework LLMJacking 2024) In some cases, adversaries may leverage services that the victim is already using. In others, particularly when the service is part of a larger cloud platform, they may first enable the service.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024) Leveraging SaaS applications may cause the victim to incur significant financial costs, use up service quotas, and otherwise impact availability.
Query: exploit In TrustZone an integer overflow vulnerability can potentially occur in all Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel.
Matching passage: CVE-2015-8998. CWE: CWE-190. CVSS: 7.800000190734863. In TrustZone an integer overflow vulnerability can potentially occur in all Android releases from CAF using the Linux kernel.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-2519. CWE: CWE-190. CVSS: 9.300000190734863. Integer overflow in Windows Journal in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, Windows RT Gold and 8.1, and Windows 10 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted .jnt file, aka "Windows Journal Integer Overflow RCE Vulnerability."
Query: exploit Unspecified vulnerability in the Java VM component in Oracle Database Server 11.1.0.7, 11.2.0.3, 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, and 12.1.0.2 allows remote authenticated users to affect confid
Matching passage: CVE-2015-2629. CWE: UNKNOWN. CVSS: 9.0. Unspecified vulnerability in the Java VM component in Oracle Database Server 11.1.0.7, 11.2.0.3, 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, and 12.1.0.2 allows remote authenticated users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-0457.
Near-miss passage: CVE-2015-2054. CWE: UNKNOWN. CVSS: 4.300000190734863. CRLF injection vulnerability in export.cfg in the web-based administrative console for Sierra Wireless AirCard 760S, 762S, and 763S allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary headers via CRLF sequences in the save parameter.
Query: detect Detects a "dllhost" process spawning with no commandline arguments which is very rare to happen and could indicate proce in logs
Matching passage: Sigma rule: Detects a "dllhost" process spawning with no commandline arguments which is very rare to happen and could indicate proce. Logsource: windows / process_creation. Rule: title: Dllhost.EXE Execution Anomaly id: e7888eb1-13b0-4616-bd99-4bc0c2b054b9 status: test description: Detects a "dllhost" process spawning with no commandline arguments which is very rare to happen and could indicate process injection activity or malware mimicking similar system processes. references: - https://redcanary.com/blog/child-processes/ - https://nasbench.medium.com/what-is-the-dllhost-exe-process-actually-running-ef9fe4c19c08 - https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/static-assets/documents/malware-analysis-reports/goofy-guineapig/NCSC-MAR-Goofy-Guineapig.pdf author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) date: 2022-06-27 modified: 2023-05-15 tags: - attack.privilege-escalation - attack.stealth - attack.t1055 logsource: category: process_creation product: windows detection: selection: Image|endswith: \dllhost.exe CommandLine: - dllhost.exe - dllhost filter_main_null: CommandLine: null condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* falsepositives: - Unlikely level: high
Near-miss passage: Sigma rule: Detects activity when Windows Defender Firewall has been reset to its default configuration. Logsource: windows / firewall-as. Rule: title: Windows Defender Firewall Has Been Reset To Its Default Configuration id: 04b60639-39c0-412a-9fbe-e82499c881a3 status: test description: Detects activity when Windows Defender Firewall has been reset to its default configuration references: - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-r2-and-2008/dd364427(v=ws.10) author: frack113 date: 2022-02-19 modified: 2023-04-21 tags: - attack.defense-impairment - attack.t1686.003 logsource: product: windows service: firewall-as detection: selection: EventID: - 2032 - 2060 condition: selection level: low