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Ruler

Ruler is a tool to abuse Microsoft Exchange services. It is publicly available on GitHub and the tool is executed via the command line. The creators of Ruler have also released a defensive tool, NotRuler, to detect its usage.[1][2]

ID: S0358
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Type: TOOL
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Platforms: Windows, Office 365
Version: 1.1
Created: 04 February 2019
Last Modified: 22 June 2020
Enterprise Layer
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Techniques Used

Domain ID Name Use
Enterprise T1087 .003 Account Discovery: Email Account

Ruler can be used to enumerate Exchange users and dump the GAL.[1]
Enterprise T1137 .003 Office Application Startup: Outlook Forms

Ruler can be used to automate the abuse of Outlook Forms to establish persistence.[1]
.004 Office Application Startup: Outlook Home Page

Ruler can be used to automate the abuse of Outlook Home Pages to establish persistence.[1]

.005 Office Application Startup: Outlook Rules

Ruler can be used to automate the abuse of Outlook Rules to establish persistence.[1]

Groups That Use This Software

ID Name References
G0064 APT33

[3][4]

References

  1. SensePost. (2016, August 18). Ruler: A tool to abuse Exchange services. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  2. SensePost. (2017, September 21). NotRuler - The opposite of Ruler, provides blue teams with the ability to detect Ruler usage against Exchange. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  1. Ackerman, G., et al. (2018, December 21). OVERRULED: Containing a Potentially Destructive Adversary. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  2. Microsoft Threat Protection Intelligence Team. (2020, June 18). Inside Microsoft Threat Protection: Mapping attack chains from cloud to endpoint. Retrieved June 22, 2020.