Sigma rules

Sigma Rules

Write Sigma detection, correlation, and filter rules plus processing pipelines per the Sigma v2.1.0 specification. This version is backward-compatible with v2.0.0.

Detection Rules

A detection rule matches log events against field conditions.

Template

title: <concise description of what is detected>
id: <UUIDv4>
status: <stable|test|experimental|deprecated|unsupported>
description: <what this rule detects and why it matters>
author: <name>
date: YYYY-MM-DD
modified: YYYY-MM-DD
references:
    - <URL>
tags:
    - attack.<tactic>
    - attack.<technique_id>
logsource:
    category: <category>
    product: <product>
    service: <service>
detection:
    <selection_name>:
        <FieldName|modifier1|modifier2>: <value or list>
    <filter_name>:
        <FieldName>: <value>
    condition: <selection_name> and not <filter_name>
falsepositives:
    - <known false positive scenario>
level: <informational|low|medium|high|critical>

Detection Block

The detection section maps named identifiers to field conditions, then combines them with a condition expression.

YAML mapping (AND-linked fields):

selection:
    EventID: 1
    Image|endswith: '\whoami.exe'

YAML list of mappings (OR-linked):

selection:
    - EventID: 1
      Image|endswith: '\whoami.exe'
    - EventID: 4688
      NewProcessName|endswith: '\whoami.exe'

Keyword list (field-agnostic search):

keywords:
    - 'mimikatz'
    - 'sekurlsa'

Field Modifiers

Modifiers chain with | on the field name. Common modifiers:

Modifier	Effect
contains	Substring match (wraps value in *...*)
startswith	Prefix match (appends *)
endswith	Suffix match (prepends *)
all	AND-link all values (default is OR)
re	Value is a regex (disables wildcard parsing)
cidr	CIDR network match
base64 / base64offset	Match base64-encoded value
wide	UTF-16LE encoding
windash	Match both - and / dash styles
exists	Field existence check (value: true/false)
gt, gte, lt, lte	Numeric comparison
cased	Case-sensitive match
fieldref	Value references another field name

For the full list of 30 modifiers, incompatible combinations, and encoding chains, see references/modifiers.md.

Condition Expressions

Conditions combine named detections with boolean logic:

condition: selection and not filter
condition: 1 of selection* or keywords
condition: all of them

Precedence: not > and > or. Quantifiers: 1 of, all of, any of, N of. Wildcard patterns match detection names (selection*). them matches all identifiers except _-prefixed ones.

For the full grammar, see references/condition-syntax.md.

Wildcards in Values

* matches any number of characters, ? matches exactly one. Escape with backslash: \*, \?, \\. Non-special backslash sequences like \W are preserved literally (important for Windows paths).

Worked Example

Request: "Detect use of the Windows command line to delete shadow copies"

title: Shadow Copy Deletion via Vssadmin or WMIC
id: c947b146-0abc-4f7a-a55e-bf2fcb8dbb60
status: test
description: >
    Detects the use of vssadmin or wmic to delete volume shadow copies,
    a common ransomware and anti-forensics technique.
author: Security Team
date: 2025-01-15
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1490
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_vssadmin:
        Image|endswith: '\vssadmin.exe'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'delete'
            - 'shadows'
    selection_wmic:
        Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'shadowcopy'
            - 'delete'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate backup rotation scripts
level: high

For the full detection rule reference (metadata fields, logsource, multi-document YAML, tags), see references/detection-rules.md.

---

Correlation Rules

Correlation rules aggregate or sequence events matched by detection rules over a time window, grouped by key fields.

Template

title: <what the correlation detects>
id: <UUIDv4>
correlation:
    type: <correlation_type>
    rules:
        - <rule-id or wildcard>
    group-by:
        - <field>
    timespan: <duration>
    condition:
        gte: <threshold>
level: <level>

Correlation Types

Type	Purpose	Condition
event_count	Count matching events per group	Threshold: {gte: N}
value_count	Count distinct values of a field per group	Threshold with field: {field: X, gte: N}
temporal	Multiple rule types fire in same window	Extended: "rule_a and rule_b" or default
temporal_ordered	Same as temporal, rules must fire in order	Extended: "rule_a and rule_b"
value_sum	Sum a numeric field across events	Threshold with field
value_avg	Average a numeric field	Threshold with field
value_percentile	Percentile of a numeric field	Threshold with field
value_median	Median of a numeric field	Threshold with field

Condition Block

Threshold (mapping): for count/metric types:

condition:
    gte: 100

With field (required for value_count, value_sum, value_avg, value_percentile, value_median):

condition:
    field: SourceIP
    gte: 5

Operators: gt, gte, lt, lte, eq, neq. Values must be numeric.

Extended (string): for temporal types:

condition: "recon_scan and lateral_movement"

Timespan

Format: integer + unit suffix. Units: s (seconds), m (minutes), h (hours), d (days), w (weeks), M (months, uppercase), y (years). Both timespan and timeframe keys are accepted.

Worked Example

Request: "Alert on brute force: more than 5 failed logins from the same user within 5 minutes"

title: Failed Login
id: d4c9a825-fdb3-472e-9b0e-fa4709aba44c
status: test
logsource:
    category: authentication
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        EventType: failed_login
    condition: selection
level: low
---
title: Brute Force Detection
id: a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890
correlation:
    type: event_count
    rules:
        - d4c9a825-fdb3-472e-9b0e-fa4709aba44c
    group-by:
        - User
    timespan: 5m
    condition:
        gte: 5
level: critical

For all 8 correlation types with full examples, see references/correlation-rules.md.

---

Filter Rules

Filter rules inject AND NOT exclusion conditions into referenced detection rules, enabling centralized tuning without modifying original rules.

Template

title: <what is being filtered>
logsource:
    category: <must match target rule>
    product: <must match target rule>
filter:
    rules:
        - <target-rule-id>
    selection:
        <FieldName|modifier>: <value>
    condition: selection

Key Points

• selection, condition, and rules all live inside the filter section
• rules: [] (empty) applies the filter globally to all matching rules
• Filter rules should not have level or status fields
• Multiple filters on the same rule use independent detection namespaces (no collision)

Worked Example

Request: "Exclude service accounts from the brute force rule"

title: Exclude Service Accounts from Brute Force
logsource:
    category: authentication
    product: windows
filter:
    rules:
        - d4c9a825-fdb3-472e-9b0e-fa4709aba44c
    selection:
        User|startswith: 'svc_'
    condition: selection

For global vs targeted filters and multi-filter patterns, see references/filter-rules.md.

---

Processing Pipelines

Pipelines transform Sigma rule ASTs before evaluation -- typically for field name mapping between generic Sigma field names and backend-specific schemas (ECS, Splunk CIM, etc.).

Template

name: <pipeline name>
priority: <integer, lower runs first>
transformations:
  - type: field_name_mapping
    mapping:
      <SigmaField>: <backend_field>
    rule_conditions:
      - type: logsource
        product: <product>

Common Transformations

Type	Purpose	Key Parameters
field_name_mapping	Rename fields	mapping: {old: new}
field_name_prefix	Add prefix to all fields	prefix: string
replace_string	Regex replacement in values	regex, replacement
drop_detection_item	Remove matching detection items	(none)
change_logsource	Rewrite logsource fields	category, product, service
add_condition	Inject extra conditions	conditions: {field: value}

Rule Conditions

Transformations only apply when all rule_conditions match:

Type	Matches When
logsource	Rule logsource matches category/product/service
contains_detection_item	Rule has a detection item with the given field
tag	Rule has the given tag
is_sigma_rule	Document is a detection rule
is_sigma_correlation_rule	Document is a correlation rule

Worked Example

Request: "Map generic Sigma fields to Elastic Common Schema for Windows process creation rules"

name: ECS Windows Process Creation
priority: 10
transformations:
  - type: field_name_mapping
    mapping:
      CommandLine: process.command_line
      Image: process.executable
      ParentImage: process.parent.executable
      User: user.name
      OriginalFileName: process.pe.original_file_name
      Hashes: process.hash
      ParentCommandLine: process.parent.command_line
      IntegrityLevel: winlog.event_data.IntegrityLevel
      LogonId: winlog.logon.id
    rule_conditions:
      - type: logsource
        product: windows
        category: process_creation
  - type: change_logsource
    product: windows
    category: process_creation
    rule_conditions:
      - type: logsource
        product: windows
        category: process_creation

For the full list of 26 transformations, all condition types, variables, and expression syntax, see references/pipelines.md.

---

Authoring Checklist

When writing or reviewing Sigma rules, verify:

• title is present and under 256 characters
• id is a valid UUIDv4 (8-4-4-4-12 hex format)
• status is one of: stable, test, experimental, deprecated, unsupported
• level is one of: informational, low, medium, high, critical
• date and modified use YYYY-MM-DD format; modified >= date
• logsource is present with at least one of category, product, service
• Logsource values are lowercase
• Detection has at least one named identifier and a condition
• Condition only references identifiers that exist in the detection block
• Tags match ^[a-z0-9_-]+\.[a-z0-9._-]+$ (e.g. attack.t1059)
• No incompatible modifier combinations (e.g. contains|startswith, re|contains)
• deprecated rules have a related entry
• Correlation rules have type, rules, group-by, and timespan
• Filter rules have rules, selection, and condition inside the filter section
• Filter rules do not have level or status

Multi-Document YAML

Multiple rules in one file are separated by ---. Collection actions control template inheritance:

• action: global -- store as template merged into all subsequent rules
• action: reset -- clear the template
• action: repeat -- clone the previous rule and merge current fields on top

This is commonly used to share logsource across detection + correlation rule pairs.

Additional References

• Detection rules deep dive -- metadata, logsource, multi-document, tags
• Correlation rules -- all 8 types with examples
• Filter rules -- global vs targeted, multi-filter patterns
• Pipelines -- all 26 transformations and conditions
• Field modifiers -- all 30 modifiers, chaining, compatibility
• Condition syntax -- grammar, precedence, quantifiers