# Hunting For Cobalt Strike Beacons

> Detect Cobalt Strike beacon network activity using default TLS certificate signatures (serial 8BB00EE), JA3/JA3S/JARM fingerprints, HTTP C2 profile pattern matching, beacon jitter analysis, and named pipe detection via Zeek, Suricata, and Python PCAP analysis.

- Skill: `xalgord/hunting-for-cobalt-strike-beacons` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add xalgord/hunting-for-cobalt-strike-beacons`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/xalgord/hunting-for-cobalt-strike-beacons/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- License: Apache-2.0
- Author: xalgord (https://skillmd.com/u/xalgord)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/xalgord/hunting-for-cobalt-strike-beacons

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# Hunting for Cobalt Strike Beacons

## Overview

Cobalt Strike is the most prevalent command-and-control framework used by both red teams and threat actors. Beacon, its primary payload, communicates with team servers using configurable HTTP/HTTPS/DNS profiles that can mimic legitimate traffic. However, default configurations and behavioral patterns remain detectable through TLS certificate analysis (default serial 8BB00EE), JA3/JA3S fingerprinting, beacon interval jitter analysis, and HTTP malleable profile pattern matching. This skill covers building detection capabilities using Zeek network logs, Suricata IDS rules, and Python-based PCAP analysis to identify beacon callbacks in network traffic.


## When to Use

- When investigating security incidents that require hunting for cobalt strike beacons
- When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
- When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
- When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

## Detection Gaps & Validation

- **Default IOCs are trivially changed:** the `8BB00EE` cert serial, default JARM, and stock JA3S only catch lazy operators — mature actors load custom certs and malleable C2 profiles that mimic jQuery/CDN traffic. Absence of the default cert is not "clean"; pivot to timing + JA3/JA4 + HTTP profile anomalies.
- **Malleable profile mimicry:** `http-get`/`http-post` blocks can spoof legitimate User-Agents, URIs, and headers — match on the *combination* (fixed URI + beacon timing + bytes-out regularity), not any single header.
- **DNS / SMB pipe beacons evade TLS rules:** DNS beacons (TXT/A) and peer-to-peer SMB named pipes (`\\.\pipe\msagent_*`, `\\.\pipe\status_*`) never touch ssl.log — add Zeek `dns.log` entropy hunts and Sysmon EID 17/18 named-pipe detection.
- **Encrypted payloads:** beacon config is AES/XOR-encrypted in memory, so PCAP content rules fail — use a beacon-config extractor on memory/payloads, not packet bytes.
- **Validate:** detonate a CS/Sliver test beacon with a non-default profile and confirm the timing-CV, JA3, and named-pipe detections all fire; verify Suricata ET rules match.
- **Tune FPs:** CDNs and SaaS reuse common JA3s — corroborate with beacon regularity and process context before escalating.

## Prerequisites

- Zeek 6.0+ with JA3 and HASSH packages installed
- Suricata 7.0+ with Emerging Threats ruleset
- Python 3.9+ with scapy and dpkt libraries
- Network traffic captures (PCAP) or live Zeek logs
- RITA (Real Intelligence Threat Analytics) for beacon scoring
- Threat intelligence feeds with known Cobalt Strike IOCs

## Steps

### Step 1: TLS Certificate Analysis
Detect default Cobalt Strike certificates using JA3S fingerprints, certificate serial numbers, and JARM fingerprints in Zeek ssl.log.

### Step 2: Beacon Interval Analysis
Analyze connection timing patterns to identify regular callback intervals with configurable jitter, characteristic of beacon behavior.

### Step 3: HTTP Profile Detection
Match HTTP request patterns (URI paths, headers, user-agents) against known malleable C2 profiles.

### Step 4: Correlate and Score
Combine multiple indicators (TLS + timing + HTTP profile) into a composite beacon confidence score.

## Expected Output

JSON report containing detected beacon candidates with confidence scores, TLS fingerprints, timing analysis, HTTP profile matches, and recommended response actions.