Learn more about creating a query to investigate the connections between network activity, acting processes, and endpoints.
Notice
Building Cortex Query Language (XQL) queries in the Query Builder requires a Cortex XDR Pro license.
From the Query Builder, you can investigate connections between network activity, acting processes, and endpoints.
Some examples of a network query you can run include:
Network connections to or from a specific IP address and port number.
Processes that created network connections.
Network connections between specific endpoints.
From Cortex XDR , select → .
Select NETWORK.
Enter the search criteria for the network events query.
Network traffic type: Select the type or types of network traffic alerts you want to search: Incoming, Outgoing, or Failed.
Network attributes: Define any additional process attributes for which you want to search. Use a pipe (
|
) to separate multiple values (for example80|8080
). By default, Cortex XDR will return the events that match the attribute you specify. To exclude an attribute value, toggle the=
option to=!
. Options are:REMOTE COUNTRY: Country from which the remote IP address originated.
REMOTE IP: Remote IP address related to the communication.
REMOTE PORT: Remote port used to make the connection.
LOCAL IP: Local IP address related to the communication. Matches can return additional data if a machine has more than one NIC.
LOCAL PORT: Local port used to make the connection.
PROTOCOL: Network transport protocol over which the traffic was sent.
To specify an additional exception (match this value except), click the + to the right of the value and specify the exception value.
(Optional) To limit the scope to a specific source, click the + to the right of the value and specify the exception value.
Specify one or more attributes for the source.
Use a pipe (|) to separate multiple values. Use an asterisk (*) to match any string of characters.
NAME: Name of the parent process.
PATH: Path to the parent process.
CMD: Command-line used to initiate the process including any arguments, up to 128 characters.
MD5: MD5 hash value of the process.
SHA256: SHA256 hash value of the process.
USER NAME: User who executed the process.
SIGNATURE: Signing status of the parent process: Signature Unavailable, Signed, Invalid Signature, Unsigned, Revoked, Signature Fail.
SIGNER: Entity that signed the certificate of the parent process.
PID: Process ID of the parent process.
Run search for process, Causality, and OS actors: The causality actor—also referred to as the causality group owner (CGO)—is the parent process in the execution chain that the Cortex XDR agent identified as being responsible for initiating the process tree. The OS actor is the parent process that creates an OS process on behalf of a different indicator. By default, this option is enabled to apply the same search criteria to initiating processes. To configure different attributes for the parent or initiate the process, clear this option.
(Optional) Limit the scope to an endpoint or endpoint attributes:
Specify one or more of the following attributes: Use a pipe (|) to separate multiple values.
Use an asterisk (*) to match any string of characters.
HOST: HOST NAME, HOST IP address, HOST OS, HOST MAC ADDRESS, or INSTALLATION TYPE.
INSTALLATION TYPE can be either Cortex XDR agent or Data Collector.
PROCESS: NAME, PATH, CMD, MD5, SHA256, USER NAME, SIGNATURE, or PID.
Specify the time period for which you want to search for events.
Options are Last 24H (hours), Last 7D (days), Last 1M (month), or select a Custom time period.
Choose when to run the query.
Select the calendar icon to schedule a query to run on or before a specific date or Run to run the query immediately and view the results in the Query Center.
While the query is running, you can always navigate away from the page and a notification is sent when the query completes. You can also Cancel the query or run a new query, where you have the option to Run only new query (cancel previous) or Run both queries.
When you are ready, view the results of the query. For more information, see Review XQL query results.