fleet-hunting-with-velociraptor

name	fleet-hunting-with-velociraptor
description	Deploy a Velociraptor server and agents and write VQL hunts across a fleet.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	threat-hunting
tags	["threat-hunting","velociraptor","vql","dfir","endpoint-visibility","incident-response","fleet-collection","digital-forensics"]
version	1.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0
nist_csf	["DE.CM-01"]
mitre_attack	["T1059"]

Fleet Hunting with Velociraptor

Authorized Use Only: Velociraptor agents provide deep endpoint visibility and remote collection. Deploy only on assets you own or are authorized to monitor, in accordance with your monitoring policy and applicable law.

Overview

Velociraptor is an open-source endpoint visibility and digital-forensics platform from Rapid7/Velocidex. A single Go binary acts as server, client (agent), and CLI depending on how it is invoked and configured. Its power comes from VQL (Velociraptor Query Language) — an SQL-like language whose plugins query the live state of an endpoint (processes, files, registry, event logs, WMI, network connections, prefetch, etc.). VQL queries are packaged into reusable Artifacts, and Artifacts are run at scale as Hunts that fan out across every connected client and stream results back to the server as structured rows.

This makes Velociraptor ideal for fleet-wide threat hunting: a hypothesis ("are any hosts running suspicious PowerShell?") becomes a VQL artifact, deployed as a hunt, with results aggregated centrally in minutes. It also supports offline collectors (standalone executables that collect and bundle artifacts on air-gapped or unmanaged hosts) and live forensic notebooks.

When to Use

• Hunting for a TTP across hundreds or thousands of endpoints from a single console.
• Collecting forensic artifacts on demand during incident response without re-imaging.
• Continuously monitoring for an indicator using client-side event artifacts.
• Generating standalone offline collectors for hosts you cannot enroll.

Prerequisites

• A Linux or Windows host for the server (Linux recommended for production).
• The Velociraptor binary from the official release page: https://github.com/Velocidex/velociraptor/releases
• Outbound/inbound connectivity from clients to the server frontend port (default 8000) and admin GUI (default 8889).
• Make the binary executable on Linux:

  chmod +x velociraptor-v0.*-linux-amd64
  sudo mv velociraptor-v0.*-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/velociraptor
  

Objectives

• Generate server and client configurations.
• Run the server frontend and admin GUI.
• Enroll clients across the fleet.
• Author and test VQL hunts.
• Launch a fleet-wide hunt and collect results.
• Produce an offline collector for unmanaged hosts.

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

ID	Official Technique Name	Relevance to this skill
T1059	Command and Scripting Interpreter	A primary hunt target — VQL artifacts surface anomalous interpreter execution (PowerShell, cmd, wscript) across the fleet for detection and triage.

Velociraptor is a defensive hunting platform; the mapping reflects the adversary behavior the hunts are designed to detect.

Workflow

1. Generate the server configuration

The interactive generator writes a server config (TLS, datastore paths, GUI users, frontend URL). Use config generate for a self-signed lab build or the interactive -i wizard for production.

# Non-interactive: dump a default server config
velociraptor config generate > server.config.yaml

# Interactive wizard (recommended for production deployments)
velociraptor config generate -i

2. Add a GUI admin user

Create at least one administrator to log into the console.

velociraptor --config server.config.yaml user add admin --role administrator

3. Start the server frontend and GUI

The frontend accepts client connections; the GUI is served per the config (default https://127.0.0.1:8889).

velociraptor --config server.config.yaml frontend -v

For a quick all-in-one local lab (server + frontend + a local client in one process):

velociraptor gui

4. Generate the client configuration and deploy agents

Derive the client config from the server config and run it as the client on each endpoint.

# Produce the client config (embeds server URL + CA)
velociraptor --config server.config.yaml config client > client.config.yaml

# On a Linux endpoint, run as a client (or install as a service)
velociraptor --config client.config.yaml client -v

On Windows, build an MSI/service installer from the GUI ("Server Artifacts" > deployment) or run:

velociraptor.exe --config client.config.yaml service install

5. Test VQL interactively before hunting

Validate a query locally with query (-q) before deploying it fleet-wide. VQL is SQL-like: SELECT ... FROM plugin(...) WHERE ....

# List running processes with their command lines
velociraptor query "SELECT Pid, Name, CommandLine FROM pslist()"

# Hunt for suspicious PowerShell command lines
velociraptor query "
SELECT Pid, Name, CommandLine
FROM pslist()
WHERE Name =~ 'powershell'
  AND CommandLine =~ '(?i)(-enc|frombase64string|downloadstring|-w hidden|iex)'
"

6. List and run a built-in artifact

Artifacts wrap VQL into reusable, parameterized collections.

# Show available artifacts
velociraptor artifacts list

# Collect a built-in artifact and write results to a directory
velociraptor artifacts collect Windows.System.Pslist --output results.zip

7. Launch a fleet-wide hunt (GUI workflow)

In the GUI: Hunt Manager > New Hunt > select the artifact (e.g. Windows.Detection.Powershell or a custom one) and parameters > Launch. The hunt fans out to every matching client; results stream into the hunt's results table and can be exported as CSV/JSON. Equivalent server-side VQL:

-- Create a hunt programmatically via a server VQL notebook
SELECT hunt(
    description="Suspicious PowerShell fleet sweep",
    artifacts="Windows.Detection.Powershell"
) FROM scope()

8. Build a custom artifact

Custom artifacts are YAML documents containing parameters and VQL sources. Save in the GUI's Artifact editor or import via artifacts:

name: Custom.Hunt.SuspiciousPowershell
description: Find encoded / download-cradle PowerShell across the fleet.
parameters:
  - name: regex
    default: "(?i)(-enc|frombase64string|downloadstring|-w hidden|iex)"
sources:
  - query: |
      SELECT Pid, Name, CommandLine, timestamp(epoch=now()) AS Collected
      FROM pslist()
      WHERE Name =~ "powershell" AND CommandLine =~ regex

9. Generate an offline collector

For unmanaged/air-gapped hosts, build a standalone collector from the GUI ("Server Artifacts" > Server.Utils.CreateCollector) or via VQL; it produces a single executable that collects chosen artifacts into a ZIP for later import.

Tools and Resources

Resource	Purpose	Link
Velociraptor releases	Official binaries	https://github.com/Velocidex/velociraptor/releases
Documentation	Deployment, VQL, artifacts	https://docs.velociraptor.app/
VQL reference	Plugin/function reference	https://docs.velociraptor.app/vql_reference/
Artifact Exchange	Community artifacts	https://docs.velociraptor.app/exchange/
Source	GitHub repository	https://github.com/Velocidex/velociraptor

Key Commands

Command	Purpose
config generate [-i]	Create server config (interactive optional)
config client	Derive client config from server config
user add <name> --role administrator	Add a GUI admin
frontend -v	Start server frontend (client comms + GUI)
gui	All-in-one local lab instance
client -v	Run as an endpoint agent
service install	Install the agent as a service
query "<VQL>"	Run VQL ad hoc
artifacts list	List available artifacts
artifacts collect <name> --output <zip>	Collect an artifact locally

Validation Criteria

• Server config generated and GUI admin created
• Frontend running and GUI reachable over TLS
• Client config generated and at least one agent enrolled
• VQL query validated locally with query
• Built-in artifact collected successfully
• Fleet-wide hunt launched and results aggregated
• Custom VQL artifact authored and tested
• Offline collector produced for unmanaged hosts where needed