STIX™ Version 2.0.

Part 5: STIX
Patterning
Committee Specification Draft 01 /
Public Review Draft 01
24 February 2017
Specification URIs
This version:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part5-stix-patterning/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-
patterning.docx (Authoritative)
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part5-stix-patterning/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-
patterning.html
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part5-stix-patterning/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-
patterning.pdf
Previous version:
N/A
Latest version:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/stix-v2.0-part5-stix-patterning.docx (Authoritative)
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/stix-v2.0-part5-stix-patterning.html
http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/stix-v2.0-part5-stix-patterning.pdf
Technical Committee:
OASIS Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) TC
Chair:
Richard Struse (Richard.Struse@HQ.DHS.GOV), DHS Office of Cybersecurity and
Communications (CS&C)
Editors:
Ivan Kirillov (ikirillov@mitre.org), MITRE Corporation
Trey Darley (trey@kingfisherops.com), Kingfisher Operations, sprl
Additional artifacts:
This prose specification is one component of a Work Product that also includes:
• STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 1: STIX Core Concepts. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part1-stix-core/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part1-stix-core.html.
• STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 2: STIX Objects. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part2-stix-objects/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part2-stix-objects.html.
• STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 3: Cyber Observable Core Concepts. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part3-cyber-observable-core/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part3-cyber-
observable-core.html.
• STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 4: Cyber Observable Objects. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part4-cyber-observable-objects/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part4-cyber-
observable-objects.html.
• (this document) STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 5: STIX Patterning. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part5-stix-patterning/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-
patterning.html.
stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-patterning 24 February 2017
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Related work:
This specification replaces or supersedes:
• STIX™ Version 1.2.1. Part 1: Overview. Edited by Sean Barnum, Desiree Beck, Aharon
Chernin, and Rich Piazza. Latest version: http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v1.2.1/stix-v1.2.1-
part1-overview.html.
• CybOX™ Version 2.1.1. Part 01: Overview. Edited by Trey Darley, Ivan Kirillov, Rich Piazza,
and Desiree Beck. Latest version: http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/cybox/v2.1.1/cybox-v2.1.1-
part01-overview.html.
This specification is related to:
• TAXII™ Version 2.0. Edited by Bret Jordan and Mark Davidson. Work in progress.
Abstract:
Structured Threat Information Expression (STIX™) is a language for expressing cyber threat and
observable information. This document defines a patterning language to enable the detection of
possibly malicious activity on networks and endpoints.
Status:
This document was last revised or approved by the OASIS Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) TC on
the above date. The level of approval is also listed above. Check the “Latest version” location
noted above for possible later revisions of this document. Any other numbered Versions and
other technical work produced by the Technical Committee (TC) are listed at https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=cti#technical.
TC members should send comments on this specification to the TC’s email list. Others should
send comments to the TC’s public comment list, after subscribing to it by following the
instructions at the “Send A Comment” button on the TC’s web page at https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/cti/.
For information on whether any patents have been disclosed that may be essential to
implementing this specification, and any offers of patent licensing terms, please refer to the
Intellectual Property Rights section of the TC’s web page (https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/cti/ipr.php).
Note that any machine-readable content (Computer Language Definitions) declared Normative for
this Work Product is provided in separate plain text files. In the event of a discrepancy between
any such plain text file and display content in the Work Product's prose narrative document(s),
the content in the separate plain text file prevails.
Citation format:
When referencing this specification the following citation format should be used:
[STIX-v2.0-Pt5-Patterning]
STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 5: STIX Patterning. Edited by Ivan Kirillov and Trey Darley. 24 February
2017. OASIS Committee Specification Draft 01 / Public Review Draft 01. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/csprd01/part5-stix-patterning/stix-v2.0-csprd01-part5-stix-patterning.html.
Latest version: http://docs.oasis-open.org/cti/stix/v2.0/stix-v2.0-part5-stix-patterning.html.

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Notices
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Portions copyright © United States Government 2012-2016. All Rights Reserved.
STIX™, CYBOX™, AND TAXII™ (STANDARD OR STANDARDS) AND THEIR COMPONENT PARTS
ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED, IMPLIED,
OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTY THAT THESE STANDARDS
OR ANY OF THEIR COMPONENT PARTS WILL CONFORM TO SPECIFICATIONS, ANY IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR FREEDOM
FROM INFRINGEMENT, ANY WARRANTY THAT THE STANDARDS OR THEIR COMPONENT PARTS
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WILL BE ERROR FREE, OR ANY WARRANTY THAT THE DOCUMENTATION, IF PROVIDED, WILL
CONFORM TO THE STANDARDS OR THEIR COMPONENT PARTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OR ITS CONTRACTORS OR SUBCONTRACTORS BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF, RESULTING FROM, OR IN ANY WAY
CONNECTED WITH THESE STANDARDS OR THEIR COMPONENT PARTS OR ANY PROVIDED
DOCUMENTATION, WHETHER OR NOT BASED UPON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR
OTHERWISE, WHETHER OR NOT INJURY WAS SUSTAINED BY PERSONS OR PROPERTY OR
OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT LOSS WAS SUSTAINED FROM, OR AROSE OUT OF THE
RESULTS OF, OR USE OF, THE STANDARDS, THEIR COMPONENT PARTS, AND ANY PROVIDED
DOCUMENTATION. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND
LIABILITIES REGARDING THE STANDARDS OR THEIR COMPONENT PARTS ATTRIBUTABLE TO
ANY THIRD PARTY, IF PRESENT IN THE STANDARDS OR THEIR COMPONENT PARTS AND
DISTRIBUTES IT OR THEM "AS IS."

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Table of Contents
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Terminology ........................................................................................................................................ 6
1.2 Normative References ........................................................................................................................ 7
1.3 Non-Normative Reference .................................................................................................................. 7
1.4 ANTLR Grammar ................................................................................................................................ 7
1.5 Conventions ........................................................................................................................................ 7
1.5.1 Naming Conventions ................................................................................................................... 7
1.5.2 Font Colors and Style .................................................................................................................. 7
2 Common Data Types............................................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Constants .......................................................................................................................................... 10
3 STIX™ Patterns .................................................................................................................................. 13
4 Pattern Expressions ........................................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Observation Expressions .................................................................................................................. 15
4.1.1 Observation Expression Qualifiers ............................................................................................ 16
4.1.2 Observation Operators .............................................................................................................. 17
4.1.3 Operator Precedence ................................................................................................................ 17
4.2 Comparison Expression .................................................................................................................... 18
4.2.1 Comparison Operators .............................................................................................................. 18
4.2.2 String Comparison ..................................................................................................................... 20
4.2.3 Binary Type Comparison ........................................................................................................... 21
4.2.4 Native Format Comparison ....................................................................................................... 21
5 Object Path Syntax ............................................................................................................................. 22
5.1 Basic Object Properties .................................................................................................................... 22
5.2 List Object Properties ....................................................................................................................... 22
5.3 Dictionary Object Properties ............................................................................................................. 23
5.4 Object Reference Properties ............................................................................................................ 23
6 Examples ............................................................................................................................................ 24
7 Conformance ...................................................................................................................................... 27
7.1 Pattern Producer ............................................................................................................................... 27
7.2 Pattern Consumer ............................................................................................................................. 27
7.3 Conformance Levels ......................................................................................................................... 27
7.3.1 Level 1: Basic Conformance ..................................................................................................... 27
7.3.2 Level 2: Basic Conformance plus Observation Operators ........................................................ 28
7.3.3 Level 3: Full Conformance ........................................................................................................ 28
Appendix A. Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. 29
Appendix B. Revision History ...................................................................................................................... 30

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1 Introduction
In order to detect a large proportion of malicious behavior in the course of defending our networks, it is
necessary to correlate telemetry from both host-based and network-based tools. Before undertaking work
on STIX Patterning, as a technical subcommittee we made a thorough effort to evaluate whether there
was already an existing patterning language that would support our use cases available as an open
standard. In particular, we considered whether it would be possible to extend the syntax of Snort or Yara
rather than create an entirely new language. This was eventually ruled out as unfeasible, both from a
technical perspective as well as taking into consideration that from a licensing/IPR perspective, extending
either of those languages under the auspices of OASIS would have been problematic.
Given that STIX Patterning exists to support STIX Indicators, consider what value Indicator-sharing
provides: a mechanism for communicating how to find malicious code and/or threat actors active within a
given network. Among the essential tools widely deployed by defenders are SIEMs (or similar data
processing platforms capable of consuming, correlating, and interrogating large volumes of network and
host-based telemetry.) These data processing platforms utilize proprietary query languages. As
development began on STIX Patterning, one of the principal design goals was to create an abstraction
layer capable of serializing these proprietary correlation rules so as to enhance the overall value
proposition of indicator-sharing.
In order to enhance detection of possibly malicious activity on networks and endpoints, a standard
language is needed to describe what to look for in a cyber environment. The STIX Patterning language
allows matching against timestamped Cyber Observable data (such as STIX Observed Data Objects)
collected by a threat intelligence platform or other similar system so that other analytical tools and
systems can be configured to react and handle incidents that might arise.
This first language release is focused on supporting a common set of use cases and therefore allows for
the expression of an initial set of patterns that producers and consumers of STIX can utilize. As more
complex patterns are deemed necessary, the STIX patterning language will be extended in future
releases to improve its effectiveness as an automated detection/remediation method.

1.1 Terminology
The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD
NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described
in [RFC2119].

CAPEC - Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

Consumer - Any entity that receives STIX content.
CTI - Cyber Threat Intelligence
Entity - Anything that has a separately identifiable existence (e.g., organization, person, group, etc.).
IEP - FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) Information Exchange Policy
Instance - A single occurrence of a STIX object version.
MTI - Mandatory To Implement
MVP - Minimally Viable Product
Object Creator - The entity that created or updated a STIX object (see section 3.3 of STIX™ Version 2.0.
Part 1: STIX Core Concepts).
Object Representation - An instance of an object version that is serialized as STIX.
Producer - Any entity that distributes STIX content, including object creators as well as those passing
along existing content.
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SDO - STIX Domain Object
SRO - STIX Relationship Object
STIX - Structured Threat Information Expression
STIX Content - STIX documents, including STIX Objects, STIX Objects grouped as bundles, etc.
STIX Object - A STIX Domain Object (SDO) or STIX Relationship Object (SRO)
TAXII - An application layer protocol for the communication of cyber threat information.
TLP - Traffic Light Protocol
TTP - Tactic, technique, or procedure; behaviors and resources that attackers use to carry out their
attacks

1.2 Normative References

[Davis] M. Davis and K. Whistler, "UNICODE NORMALIZATION FORMS", Unicode®
Standard Annex #15, February 2016. [Online] Available:
http://unicode.org/reports/tr15/
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels”, BCP
14, RFC 2119, March 1997. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt.
[RFC4648] Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings", RFC 4648,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4648, October 2006, http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4648.

1.3 Non-Normative Reference

[Pattern Grammar] OASIS Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) TC, "STIX Pattern Grammar", OASIS.
[Online]. Available: https://github.com/oasis-open/cti-stix2-json-
schemas/tree/master/pattern_grammar

1.4 ANTLR Grammar

The latest ANTLR grammar for the patterning specification can be found on Github in the Pattern
Grammar repository [Pattern Grammar]. Note that this grammar is non-normative and is intended solely
as an aid to implementers.

1.5 Conventions
1.5.1 Naming Conventions
All type names, property names, and literals are in lowercase, except when referencing canonical names
defined in another standard (e.g., literal values from an IANA registry). Words in property names are
separated with an underscore(_), while words in type names and string enumerations are separated with
a dash (-). All type names, property names, object names, and vocabulary terms are between three and
250 characters long.
In the JSON serialization all property names and string literals MUST be exactly the same, including case,
as the names listed in the property tables in this specification. For example, the Cyber Observable Object
property extensions must result in the JSON key name "extensions". Properties marked required in the
property tables MUST be present in the JSON serialization.

1.5.2 Font Colors and Style

The following color, font and font style conventions are used in this document:

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 ● The Consolas font is used for all type names, property names and literals.
○ type names are in red with a light red background - hashes-type
○ property names are in bold style - protocols
○ literals (values) are in green with a green background - SHA-256
● In an object's property table, if a common property is being redefined in some way, then the
background is dark gray.
● All examples in this document are expressed in JSON. They are in Consolas 9-point font, with
straight quotes, black text and a light blue background, and 2-space indentation.
● Parts of the example may be omitted for conciseness and clarity. These omitted parts are
denoted with the ellipses (...).

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2 Common Data Types
The terms defined below are used throughout this document.

Terms Definitions Example

whitespace Any Unicode code point that has WSpace n/a

set as a property, for example, line feeds,
carriage returns, tabs, and spaces.

Observation Observations represent data about n/a

systems or networks that is observed at a
particular point in time - for example,
information about a file that existed, a
process that was observed running, or
network traffic that was transmitted
between two IPs. In STIX, Observations
are represented by Observed Data SDOs,
with their first_observed timestamp
defining the observation time.

Comparison Expression Comparison Expressions are the basic user-account:value =

components of Observation Expressions. 'Peter'
They consist of an Object Path and a
constant joined by a Comparison Operator
(listed in section 4.2.1, Comparison
Operators).

Comparison Operators Comparison Operators are used within MATCHES

Comparison Expressions to compare an
Object Path against a constant or set of
constants.

Object Path Object Paths define which properties of ipv6-addr:value

Cyber Observable Objects should be
evaluated as part of a Comparison
Expression. Cyber Observable Objects and
their properties are defined in
STIX™Version 2.0. Part 4: Cyber
Observable Objects.

Observation Expression Observation Expressions consist of one or [ipv4-addr:value =

more Comparison Expressions joined with '203.0.113.1' OR ipv4-
Boolean Operators and surrounded by addr:value =
square brackets. '203.0.113.2']

An Observation Expression may consist of or (with Observation

two Observation Expressions joined by an Operator):
Observation Operator. This may be applied

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 recursively to compose multiple ([ipv4-addr:value =
Observation Expressions into a single '198.51.100.5']
Observation Expression. FOLLOWEDBY [ipv4-
addr:value =
'198.51.100.10'])
Observation Expressions may optionally be
followed by one or more Qualifiers further
constraining the result set. Qualifiers may or (with Observation
be applied to all of the Observation Operator and Qualifier):
Expressions joined with Observation
Operators; in this case, parentheses should ([ipv4-addr:value =
be used to group the set of Observation '198.51.100.5' ] AND
Expressions, with the Qualifier following the [ipv4-addr:value =
closing parenthesis. '198.51.100.10']) WITHIN
300 SECONDS

Boolean Operators Boolean Operators are used to combine (Comparison Expressions)

Comparison Expressions within an user-account:value =
Observation Expression. 'Peter' OR user-
account:value = 'Mary'

Qualifier Qualifiers provide a restriction on the [file:name = 'foo.dll']

Observations that are considered valid for START '2016-06-
matching the preceding Observation 01T00:00:00Z' STOP
Expression. '2016-07-01T00:00:00Z'

Observation Operators Observation Operators are used to [ipv4-addr:value =

combine two Observation Expressions '198.51.100.5'] AND [
operating on two different Observed Data ipv4-addr:value =
instances into a single pattern. '198.51.100.10']

Pattern Expression A Pattern Expression represents a valid [file:size = 25536]

instance of a Cyber Observable pattern.
The most basic Pattern Expression
consists of a single Observation
Expression containing a single Comparison
Expression.

2.1 Constants
The data types enumerated below are supported as operands within Comparison Expressions. This table
is included here as a handy reference for implementers.
Note that unlike Cyber Observable Objects (which are defined in terms of the MTI JSON serialization),
STIX Patterns are Unicode strings, regardless of the underlying serialization, hence the data types
defined in the table below in some cases differ from the definitions contained in STIX™ Version 2.0. Part
3: Cyber Observable Core Concepts.
Each constant defined in Patterning has a limited set of Cyber Observable Data types that they are
allowed to be compared against. In some cases, there are multiple Cyber Observable Data Types that
could be compared against a STIX Patterning Constant; this is due to the fact that certain Cyber
Observable Data Types are semantically indistinguishable because of their JSON serialization. The
Cyber Observable Comparable Data Type(s) column in the table below defines these limitations.

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 STIX Patterning Cyber Observable Description
Constant Comparable Data
Type(s)

boolean boolean A constant of boolean type encodes truth or

falsehood. Boolean truth is denoted by the literal
true and falsehood by the literal false.

binary binary A constant of binary type is a base64 encoded

hex array of octets (8-bit bytes) per [RFC4648]. The
base64 string MUST be surrounded by single
string
quotes (U+0027) and prefixed by a 'b' (U+0062).
Line feeds in the base64 encoded data MUST
be supported and ignored, but are not required
to be inserted.
Example:
b'ABI='

hex binary A constant of hex type encodes an array of

hex octets (8-bit bytes) as hexadecimal. The string
string MUST consist of an even number of
hexadecimal characters, which are the digits '0'
through '9' and the letters 'a' through 'f'. The hex
string MUST be surrounded by single quotes
(U+0027) and prefixed by an 'h' (U+0068).
Example:
h'0012'

integer integer A constant of integer type encodes a signed

float decimal number in the usual fashion (e.g., 123).
In the case of positive integers, the integer
MUST be represented as-is, omitting the ‘+'
(U+002b). Negative integers MUST be
represented by prepending a ‘-' (U+002d).

When compared against a Cyber Observable

float, the full value must be compared and
must not be truncated. For example, the result
of comparing a STIX Patterning constant integer
value of 1 to a Cyber Observable float value
of 1.5 is not equal.
The valid range of values is defined in STIX™
Version 2.0. Part 3: Cyber Observable Core
Concepts.

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 float integer A constant of float type encodes a floating
point number in the usual fashion (e.g.,
float
123.456). In the case of positive floating point
number, the floating point number MUST be
represented as-is, omitting the ‘+' (U+002b).
Negative floating point numbers MUST be
represented by prepending a ‘-' (U+002d).

The valid range of values is defined in STIX™

Version 2.0. Part 3: Cyber Observable Core
Concepts.

string string A constant of string type encodes a string as a

list of Unicode code points surrounded by single
binary
quotes (U+0027).
hex

The escape character is the backslash

(U+005c). Only the single quote or the
backslash may follow, and in that case, the
respective character is used for the sequence.

If a string only contains codepoints less than

(U+0100), then the string MAY be converted to
a binary type value (if needed for comparison).
The mapping is code point U+0000 to 00
through U+00ff to ff.

timestamp timestamp A constant of timestamp type encodes a STIX

timestamp (as specified in section 2.10 of
STIX™ Version 2.0 Part 1: STIX Core
Concepts) as a string. The timestamp string
MUST be surrounded by single quotes
(U+0027) and prefixed with a 't' (U+0074).
Example:
t'2014-01-13T07:03:17Z'

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3 STIX™ Patterns
STIX Patterns are composed of multiple building blocks, ranging from simple key-value comparisons to
more complex, context-sensitive expressions. The most fundamental building block is the Comparison
Expression, which is a comparison between a single property of a Cyber Observable Object and a given
constant using a Comparison Operator. As a simple example, one might use the following Comparison
Expression (contained within an Observation Expression) to match against an IPv4 address:

[ipv4-addr:value = '198.51.100.1/32']

Moving up a level of complexity, the next building block of a STIX Pattern is the Observation Expression,
which consists of one or more Comparison Expressions joined by Boolean Operators and bounded by
square brackets. An Observation Expression refines which set of Cyber Observable data (i.e., as part of
an Observation) will match the pattern, by selecting the set that has the Cyber Observable Objects
specified by the Comparison Expressions. An Observation Expression consisting of a single Comparison
Expression is the most basic valid STIX Pattern. Building upon the previous example, one might construct
an Observation Expression to match against multiple IPv4 addresses and an IPv6 address:

[ipv4-addr:value = '198.51.100.1/32' OR ipv4-addr:value = '203.0.113.33/32' OR ipv6-addr:value

= '2001:0db8:dead:beef:dead:beef:dead:0001/128']

Observation Expressions may be followed by one or more Qualifiers, which allow for the expression of
further restrictions on the set of data matching the pattern. Continuing with the above example, one might
use a Qualifier to state that the IP addresses must be observed several times in repetition:

[ipv4-addr:value = '198.51.100.1/32' OR ipv4-addr:value = '203.0.113.33/32' OR ipv6-addr:value

= '2001:0db8:dead:beef:dead:beef:dead:0001/128'] REPEATS 5 TIMES

The final, highest level building block of STIX Patterning combines two or more Object Expressions via
Observation Operators, yielding a STIX Pattern capable of matching across multiple STIX Observed Data
SDOs. Building further upon our previous example, one might use an Observation Operator to specify
that an observation of a particular domain name must follow the observation of the IP addresses (note the
use of parentheses to encapsulate the two Observation Expressions), along with a different Qualifier to
state that both the IP address and domain name must be observed within a specific time window:

([ipv4-addr:value = '198.51.100.1/32' OR ipv4-addr:value = '203.0.113.33/32' OR ipv6-

addr:value = '2001:0db8:dead:beef:dead:beef:dead:0001/128'] FOLLOWEDBY [domain-name:value =
'example.com']) WITHIN 600 SECONDS

The diagram below depicts a truncated version of the various STIX Patterning components in the above
example.

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4 Pattern Expressions
Pattern Expressions evaluate to true or false. They comprise one or more Observation Expressions
joined by Observation Operators. Pattern Expressions are evaluated against a set of specific
Observations. If one or more of those Observations match the Pattern Expression, then it evaluates to
true. If no Observations match, the Pattern Expression evaluates to false.
Pattern Expressions MUST be encoded as Unicode strings.
Whitespace (i.e., Unicode code points where WSpace=Y) in the pattern string is used to delimit parts of
the pattern, including keywords, constants, and field objects. Whitespace characters between operators,
including line feeds and carriage returns, MUST be allowed. Multiple whitespace characters in a row
MUST be treated as a single whitespace character.
An invalid pattern resulting from parsing error or invalid constants (e.g., an invalid hex or binary constant)
MUST NOT match any Observations.

4.1 Observation Expressions

Observation Expressions comprise one or more Comparison Expressions, joined via Boolean Operators.
Observation Expressions MUST be delimited by square brackets ‘[‘ (U+005b) and ‘]' (U+005d). One or
more Observation Expression Qualifiers MAY be provided after the closing square bracket or closing
parenthesis of an Observation Expression. Observation Expressions MAY be joined by Observation
Operators.
Individual Observation Expressions (e.g., [a = b]) match against a single Observation, i.e., a single STIX
Observed Data instance. In cases where matching against multiple Observations is required, two or more
Observation Expressions may be combined via Observation Operators, indicating that the pattern must
be evaluated against two or more distinct Observations.
When matching an Observation against an Observation Expression, all Comparison Expressions
contained within the Observation Expression MUST match against the same Cyber Observable Object,
including referenced objects. An Observation Expression MAY contain Comparison Expressions with
Object Paths that are based on different object types, but such Comparison Expressions MUST be joined
by OR. The Comparison Expressions of an Observation Expression that use AND MUST use the same
base Object Path, e.g., file:.
For example, consider the following Pattern Expression:
[(type-a:property-j = 'W' AND type-a:property-k = 'X') OR (type-b:property-m = 'Y' AND type-
b:property-n = 'Z')]

This expression can match an Observable with an object of either type-a or type-b, but both Comparison
Expressions for that specific type must evaluate to true for the same object. Comparison Expressions that
are intended to match a single object type can be joined by either AND or OR. For example:
[type-a:property-j = 'W' AND type-a:property-k = 'X' OR type-a:property-l = 'Z']

As AND has higher precedence than OR, the preceding example requires an Observation to have either
both property-j = 'W' and property-k = 'X' or just property-l = 'Z'.

Observation Expressions, along with their Observation Operators and optional Qualifiers, MAY be
surrounded with parenthesis to delineate which Observation Expressions the Qualifiers apply to. For
example:
([ a ] AND [ b ] REPEATS 5 TIMES) WITHIN 5 MINUTES

The preceding example results in one a and 5 b’s that all match in a 5 minute period. As another
example:

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([ a ] AND [ b ]) REPEATS 5 TIMES WITHIN 5 MINUTES

The preceding example results in 5 a’s and 5 b’s (10 Observations) that all match in a 5 minute period.

4.1.1 Observation Expression Qualifiers

Each Observation Expression MAY have additional temporal or repetition restrictions using the respective
WITHIN, START/STOP, and REPEATS keywords.

Qualifiers Description

a REPEATS x TIMES a MUST be an Observation Expression or a preceding Qualifier. a MUST

match exactly x times, where each match is a different Observation. x MUST
be a positive integer.
This is purely a shorthand way of writing:
“a” followed by “AND a”, x-1 times.
Example:
[ b ] FOLLOWEDBY [ c ] REPEATS 5 TIMES

In this example, the REPEATS applies to c, and it does not apply to b. The
results will be b plus 5 c's where all 5 c's were observed after the b. Note that
there is only a single Qualifier in this example; more complex patterns may use
more than one.

a WITHIN x SECONDS a MUST be an Observation Expression or a preceding Qualifier. All

Observations matched by a MUST occur, or have been observed, within the
specified time window. x MUST be a positive floating point value.
If there is a set of two or more Observations matched by a, the most recent
Observation timestamp contained within that set MUST NOT be equal to or
later than the delta of the earliest Observation timestamp within the set plus
the specified time window.
Example:
([file:hashes."SHA-256" = '13987239847...'] AND [win-registry-key:key
= 'hkey']) WITHIN 120 SECONDS

The above Pattern Expression looks for a file hash and a registry key that were
observed within 120 seconds of each other. The parentheses are needed to
apply the WITHIN Qualifier to both Observation Expressions.

a START x STOP y a MUST be an Observation Expression or a preceding Qualifier. All

Observations that match a MUST have an observation time >= x and < y.

x and y MUST be a timestamp as defined in section 2.10 of STIX™ Version

2.0. Part 1: STIX Core Concepts.

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4.1.2 Observation Operators
Two or more Observation Expressions MAY be combined using an Observation Operator in order to
further constrain the set of Observations that match against the Pattern Expression.

Observation Operators Description Associativity

[ a ] AND [ b ] a and b MUST both be Observation Left to right

Expressions and MUST both evaluate to
true on different Observations.

[ a ] OR [ b ] a and b MUST both be Observation Left to right

Expressions and one of a or b MUST
evaluate to true on different Observations.

[ a ] FOLLOWEDBY [ b ] a and b MUST both be Observation Left to right

Expressions. Both a and b MUST both
evaluate to true, where the observation
timestamp associated with b is greater than
or equal to the observation timestamp
associated with a and MUST evaluate to
true on different Observations.

For example, consider the following Pattern Expression:

[ a = 'b' ] FOLLOWEDBY [ c = 'd' ] REPEATS 5 TIMES
The preceding expression says to match an Observation with a equal to 'b' that precedes 5 occurrences
of Observations that have c equal to ‘d’, for a total of 6 Observations matched. This interpretation is due
to qualifiers not being greedy, and is equivalent to [ a = 'b' ] FOLLOWEDBY ( [ c = 'd' ] REPEATS 5
TIMES).
Alternatively, using parenthesis to group the initial portion, we get the following example:
([ a = 'b' ] FOLLOWEDBY [ c = 'd' ]) REPEATS 5 TIMES
The preceding expression will match 5 pairs of Observations where a equals 'b' followed by an
Observation where c is equal to 'd', for a total of 10 Observations matched.

4.1.3 Operator Precedence

Operator associativity and precedence may be overridden by the use of parentheses. Unless otherwise
specified, operator associativity (including for parentheses) is left-to-right. Precedence in the below table
is from highest to lowest.

Operators Associativity Valid Scope

() left to right Observation Expression or

Pattern Expression, Observation
Expression and Qualifier

AND left to right Observation Expression, Pattern

Expression

OR left to right Observation Expression, Pattern

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 Expression

FOLLOWEDBY (Observation Operator) left to right Pattern Expression

4.2 Comparison Expression

Comparison Expressions are the most basic components of STIX Patterning, comprising an Object Path
and a constant joined by a Comparison Operator. Each Comparison Expression is a singleton, and so
they are evaluated from left to right.
A Boolean Operator joins two Comparison Expressions together. In the following table, a or b is either a
Comparison Expression or a composite expression (which may be composed recursively) consisting of
two or more Comparison Expressions joined with Boolean Operators and enclosed by parentheses.

Boolean Operator Description Associativity

a AND b a and b MUST both be Comparison Expressions or Left to right

a composite expression (which may be composed
recursively) consisting of two or more Comparison
Expressions joined with Boolean Operators and
enclosed by parentheses.
a and b MUST both evaluate to true on the same
Observation.

a OR b a and b MUST both be Comparison Expressions or Left to right

a composite expression (which may be composed
recursively) consisting of two or more Comparison
Expressions joined with Boolean Operators and
enclosed by parentheses.
Either a or b MUST evaluate to true.

4.2.1 Comparison Operators

The table below describes the available Comparison Operators for use in Comparison Expressions; in the
table, a MUST be an Object Path and b MUST be a constant. If the arguments to the Comparison
Operators are of incompatible types (e.g., the Object Path is an integer and the constant is a string), the
results are false; the sole exception is the != operator in which case the result is true. Some STIX
Patterning constants and Cyber Observable data types may be comparable in a Comparison Expression.
For example, the hex and binary types both represent binary data, and their representative binary data
is that which must be compared for equality. See section Error! Reference source not found. for type
compatibility between STIX Patterning and Cyber Observable types.
A Comparison Operator MAY be preceded by the modifier NOT, in which case the resultant Comparison
Expression is logically negated.

Comparison Description Example

Operator

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a=b a and b MUST be equal (transitive), where a MUST file:name = 'foo.dll'
be an Object Path and b MUST be a constant of the
same data type as the Object property specified by
a.

a != b a and b MUST NOT be equal (transitive), where a file:size != 4112

MUST be an Object Path and b MUST be a
constant of the same data type as the Object
property specified by a.

a>b a is numerically or lexically greater than b, where a file:size > 256

MUST be an Object Path and b MUST be a
constant of the same data type as the Object
property specified by a.

a<b a is numerically or lexically less than b, where a file:size < 1024

MUST be an Object Path and b MUST be a
constant of the same data type as the Object
property specified by a.

a <= b a is numerically or lexically less than or equal to b, file:size <= 25145

where a MUST be an Object Path and b MUST be a
constant of the same data type as the Object
property specified by a.

a >= b a is numerically or lexically greater than or equal to file:size >= 33312

b, where a MUST be an Object Path and b MUST
be a constant of the same data type as the Object
property specified by a.

a IN (x,y,...) a MUST be an Object Path and MUST evaluate to process:name IN

one of the values enumerated in the set of x,y,... ('proccy', 'proximus',
(transitive). The set values in b MUST be constants 'badproc')
of homogenous data type and MUST be valid data
types for the Object Property specified by a. The
return value is true if a is equal to one of the values
in the list. If a is not equal to any of the items in the
list, then the Comparison Expression evaluates to
false.
a LIKE b a MUST be an Object Path and MUST match the directory:path LIKE
pattern specified in b where any '%' is 0 or more 'C:\\Windows\\%\\foo'
characters and ‘_' is any one character.
This operator is based upon the SQL LIKE clause
and makes use of the same wildcards.
The string constant b MUST be NFC normalized
[Davis] prior to evaluation.

a MATCHES b a MUST be an Object Path and MUST be matched directory:path MATCHES

by the pattern specified in b, where b is a string '^C:\\Windows\\w+$'
constant containing a PCRE compliant regular
expression. a MUST be NFC normalized [Davis]
before comparison if the property is of string type.
Regular expressions MUST be conformant to the
syntax defined by the Perl-compatible Regular
Expression (PCRE) library
(http://www.pcre.org/original/doc/html/pcrepattern.ht
ml). The search function MUST be used. The
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 DOTALL option MUST be specified. The standard
beginning and end anchors may be used in the
pattern to obtain match behavior.
In the case that the property is binary (e.g., the
property name ends in _bin or _hex), then the
UNICODE flag MUST NOT be specified.

Set Operator Description Example

a ISSUBSET b When a is a set that is wholly contained by the set ipv4-addr:value

b, the Comparison Expression evaluates to true. a ISSUBSET
MUST be an Object Path referring to the value '198.51.100.0/24'
property of an Object of type ipv4-addr or ipv6-
addr. b MUST be a valid string representation of
the corresponding Object type (as defined in
STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 4: Cyber Observable
Objects).
For example, if ipv4-addr:value was
198.51.100.0/27, ISSUBSET '198.51.100.0/24'
would evaluate to true.
In the case that both a and b evaluate to an
identical single IP address or an identical IP subnet,
the Comparison Expression evaluates to true.

a ISSUPERSET b When a is a set that wholly contains the set ipv4-addr:value

specified by b, the Comparison Expression ISSUPERSET
evaluates to true. a MUST be an Object Path '198.51.100.0/24'
referring either an ipv4-addr or ipv6-addr Object.
b MUST be a valid string representation of the
corresponding Object type (as defined in STIX™
Version 2.0. Part 4: Cyber Observable Objects).
For example, if ipv4-addr:value was
198.51.100.0/24, ISSUPERSET '198.51.100.0/27'
would evaluate to true.
In the case that both a and b evaluate to an
identical single IP address or an identical IP subnet,
the Comparison Expression evaluates to true.

4.2.2 String Comparison

For simple string operators, i.e., "=", "!=", "<", ">", "<=" and ">=", as collation languages and methods are
unspecifiable, a simple code point (binary) comparison MUST be used. If one string is longer than the
other, but otherwise equal, the longer string is greater than, but not equal to, the shorter string. Unicode
normalization MUST NOT be performed on the string. This means that combining marks [Davis] are
sorted by their code point, not the NFC normalized value. E.g. ‘o' U+006f < ‘oz' U+006f U+007a < ‘ò'
U+006f U+0300 < ‘z' U+007a < ‘ò' U+00f2. Although Unicode recommends normalizing strings for
comparisons, the use of combining marks may be significant, and normalizing by default would remove
this information.
NFC normalization is, however, required for other Comparison Operators, e.g., LIKE and MATCHES.

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4.2.3 Binary Type Comparison
When the value of two binary object properties are compared, they are compared as unsigned octets.
That is, 00 is less than ff. If one value is longer than the other, but they are otherwise equal, the longer
value is considered greater than, but not equal to, the shorter value.

4.2.4 Native Format Comparison

The Cyber Observable Object's value MUST be in its native format when doing the comparison. For
example, Cyber Observable Object properties that use the binary type (defined in section 2.2 of STIX™
Version 2.0. Part 3: Cyber Observable Core Concepts) must have their value decoded into its constituent
bytes prior to comparison. This also means that Object Properties which use the hex type must be
decoded into raw octets prior to being evaluated.
In cases where a binary Cyber Observable Object property (i.e., one ending with _bin or _hex) is
evaluated against a string constant, the string constant MUST be converted into a binary constant when
all of the constituent string code points are less than U+0100. If this conversion is not possible, the
comparison MUST evaluate to false, unless the comparison operator is !=, in which case it MUST
evaluate to true.
For example given the following object, where the payload_bin property is of binary type :
{
"0":{
"type": "artifact",
"mime_type": "application/octet-stream",
"payload_bin": "dGhpcyBpcyBhIHRlc3Q="
}
}

The pattern "artifact:payload_bin = 'dGhpcyBpcyBhIHRlc3Q='" would evaluate to false, while the

following patterns would all evaluate to true:

"artifact:payload_bin = 'this is a test'", "artifact:payload_bin = b'dGhpcyBpcyBhIHRlc3Q='",

and "artifact:payload_bin = h'7468697320697320612074657374'".

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5 Object Path Syntax
Defined below is the syntax for addressing properties of Cyber Observable Objects within a STIX Pattern.
The following notation is used throughout the definitions below:

Notation Definition

<object-type> The type of Cyber Observable Object to match against. This

MUST be the value of the type field specified for a given Cyber
Observable Object in an Observation.

<property_name> The name of a Cyber Observable Object property to match

against. This MUST be a valid property name as specified in the
definition of the Cyber Observable Object type referenced by the
<object-type> notation.
If the <property_name> contains a dash ('-' U+002d) or a dot
(U+002e), the <property_name> MUST be enclosed in double
quotes (U+0022).
Properties that are nested (i.e., are children of other properties in
a Cyber Observable Object) MUST be specified using the syntax
<property_name>.<property_name>, where the
<property_name> preceding the ‘.' is the name of the parent
property and the one following is the name of the child property.
If the property name is a reference to another Cyber Observable
Object, the referenced Object MUST be dereferenced, so that its
properties function as if they are nested in the Object that it is
referenced by. For example, if the src_ref property of the
Network Traffic Object references an IPv4 Address Object, the
value of this IPv4 address would be specified by network-
traffic:src_ref.value.

5.1 Basic Object Properties

Any non-dictionary and non-list property that is directly specified on a Cyber Observable Object.
Syntax
<object-type>:<property_name>
Example
file:size

5.2 List Object Properties

Any property on a Cyber Observable Object that uses the list data type.
Syntax
<object-type>:<property_name>[list_index] .<property_name>

Where the first property_name MUST be the name of an Object property of type list and
[list_index] MUST be one of the following:
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 ● An integer in the range of 0..N-1, where N is the length of the list. If list_index is out of range, the
result of any operation is false.
● The literal '*' indicates that if any of the items contained within a list matches against the
Comparison Expression, the Comparison Expression evaluates to true.
Example
file:extensions.windows-pebinary.sections[*].entropy > 7.0

The above example will return true if any PE section has an entropy property whose value is greater than
7.0.

5.3 Dictionary Object Properties

Any property on a Cyber Observable Object that uses the dictionary data type.
Syntax
<object-type>:<property_name>.<key_name>

Where <property_name> MUST be the name of an Object property of type dictionary and
<key_name> MUST be the name of key in the dictionary.
Examples
file:hashes.MD5

file:extensions.raster-image.image_height

5.4 Object Reference Properties

Any property on a Cyber Observable Object that uses the object-ref data type, either as a singleton or
as a list (i.e., list of type object-ref).
Syntax
<object-type>:<property_name>.<dereferenced_object_property>

Where <property_name> MUST be the name of an Object property of type object-ref and
<dereferenced_object_property> MUST be the name of a valid property of the dereferenced Object
(i.e., the Object in an Observation that is referenced via <property_name>).
For cases where <property_name> is a list of type object-ref, the corresponding syntax applies:
<object-type>:<property_name>[list_index].<dereferenced_object_property>
Accordingly, the same semantics for list indices as defined in section 5.2 apply in this case.
Examples
email-message:from_ref.value = 'mary@example.com'
directory:contains_refs[*].name = 'foobar.dll'

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6 Examples
Note: the examples below are NOT JSON encoded. This means that some characters, like double
quotes, are not escaped, though they will be when encoded in a JSON string.

Matching a File with a SHA-256 hash

[file:hashes."SHA-256" = 'aec070645fe53ee3b3763059376134f058cc337247c978add178b6ccdfb0019f']

Matching an Email Message with a particular From Email Address and Attachment File Name Using a
Regular Expression
[email-message:from_ref.value MATCHES '.+\\@example\\.com$' AND email-
message:body_multipart[*].body_raw_ref.name MATCHES '^Final Report.+\\.exe$']

Matching a File with a SHA-256 hash and a PDF MIME type

[file:hashes."SHA-256" = 'aec070645fe53ee3b3763059376134f058cc337247c978add178b6ccdfb0019f'
AND file:mime_type = 'application/x-pdf']

Matching a File with SHA-256 or a MD5 hash (e.g., for the case of two different end point tools generating
either an MD5 or a SHA-256), and a different File that has a different SHA-256 hash, against two different
Observations
[file:hashes."SHA-256" = 'bf07a7fbb825fc0aae7bf4a1177b2b31fcf8a3feeaf7092761e18c859ee52a9c' OR
file:hashes.MD5 = 'cead3f77f6cda6ec00f57d76c9a6879f']
AND [file:hashes."SHA-256" =
'aec070645fe53ee3b3763059376134f058cc337247c978add178b6ccdfb0019f']

Matching a File with a MD5 hash, followed by (temporally) a Registry Key Object that matches a value,
within 5 minutes
[file:hashes.MD5 = '79054025255fb1a26e4bc422aef54eb4'] FOLLOWEDBY [win-registry-key:key =
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\foo\\bar'] WITHIN 300 SECONDS

Matching three different, but specific Unix User Accounts

[user-account:account_type = 'unix' AND user-account:user_id = '1007' AND user-
account:account_login = 'Peter'] AND [user-account:account_type = 'unix' AND user-
account:user_id = '1008' AND user-account:account_login = 'Paul'] AND [user-
account:account_type = 'unix' AND user-account:user_id = '1009' AND user-account:account_login
= 'Mary']

Matching an Artifact Object PCAP payload header

[artifact:mime_type = 'application/vnd.tcpdump.pcap' AND artifact:payload_bin MATCHES
'\\xd4\\xc3\\xb2\\xa1\\x02\\x00\\x04\\x00']

Matching a File Object with a Windows file path

[file:name = 'foo.dll' AND file:parent_directory_ref.path = 'C:\\Windows\\System32']

Matching on a Windows PE File with high section entropy

[file:extensions.windows-pebinary-ext.sections[*].entropy > 7.0]

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Matching on a mismatch between a File Object magic number and mime type
[file:mime_type = 'image/bmp' AND file:magic_number_hex = h'ffd8']

Matching on Network Traffic with a particular destination

[network-traffic:dst_ref.type = 'ipv4-addr' AND network-traffic:dst_ref.value =
'203.0.113.33/32']

Matching on Malware Beaconing to a Domain Name

[network-traffic:dst_ref.type = 'domain-name' AND network-traffic:dst_ref.value =
'example.com'] REPEATS 5 TIMES WITHIN 1800 SECONDS

Matching on a Domain Name with IPv4 Resolution

[domain-name:value = 'www.5z8.info' AND domain-name:resolves_to_refs[*].value =
'198.51.100.1/32']

Matching on a URL
[url:value = 'http://example.com/foo' OR url:value = 'http://example.com/bar']

Matching on an X509 Certificate

[x509-certificate:issuer = 'CN=WEBMAIL' AND x509-certificate:serial_number =
'4c:0b:1d:19:74:86:a7:66:b4:1a:bf:40:27:21:76:28']

Matching on a Windows Registry Key

[windows-registry-key:key = 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\CryptoLocker\\Files' OR windows-
registry-key:key =
'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\CryptoLocker_0388']

Matching on a File with a set of properties

[(file:name = 'pdf.exe' OR file:size = '371712') AND file:created = t'2014-01-13T07:03:17Z']

Matching on an Email Message with specific Sender and Subject

[email-message:sender_ref.value = 'jdoe@example.com' AND email-message:subject = 'Conference
Info']

Matching on a Custom USB Device

[x-usb-device:usbdrive.serial_number = '575833314133343231313937']

Matching on Two Processes Launched with a Specific Set of Command Line Arguments Within a Certain
Time Window
[process:command_line MATCHES '^.+>-add GlobalSign.cer -c -s -r localMachine Root$']
FOLLOWEDBY [process:command_line MATCHES'^.+>-add GlobalSign.cer -c -s -r
localMachineTrustedPublisher$'] WITHIN 300 SECONDS

Matching on a Network Traffic IP that is part of a particular Subnet

[network-traffic:dst_ref.value ISSUBSET '2001:0db8:dead:beef:0000:0000:0000:0000/64']

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Matching on several different combinations of Malware Artifacts. Note the following pattern requires that
both a file and registry key exist, or that one of two processes exist.
([file:name = 'foo.dll'] AND [win-registry-key:key = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\foo\\bar']) OR
[process:name = 'fooproc' OR process:name = 'procfoo']

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7 Conformance
Implementers of the STIX Patterning language are not required to support the full capabilities provided by
the language. Rather, implementers are strongly encouraged to support as much of STIX Patterning as
feasible, given the capabilities of their products, but only required to support the minimum conformance
level (defined below) necessary for their particular use cases. For example, the vendor of a network
intrusion detection system (NIDS) that looks for malicious network traffic may only need to implement the
Comparison Operators and support basic Observation Expressions to explicitly match against network
traffic and IP addresses.
While the STIX Patterning language specification is tightly coupled with the STIX Cyber Observable
object data models, it is understood that in many (or even most) implementations STIX Patterns will be
used as an abstraction layer for transcoding into other proprietary query formats. STIX Patterns may be
evaluated directly against a corpus of STIX Observed Data instances but they may also, for example, be
translated into some query syntax for a packet inspection device. In this second case, the STIX Patterns
are in fact evaluated in the context of data passing on the wire, not in the form of STIX Cyber
Observables.
The STIX Patterning language's Observation Operators allow for the creation of patterns that explicitly
match across multiple Observations; however, the language purposefully does not specify anything about
the source of the underlying data for each Observation. For example, depending on a particular
patterning implementation, the data for a pattern that matches on network traffic could come from an
endpoint or from a NIDS. It is incumbent upon implementers to ascertain the appropriate data sources
(where applicable) for each Observation within a given pattern.

7.1 Pattern Producer

Software that creates STIX patterns is known as a "Pattern Producer". Such software MUST support the
creation of patterns that conform to all normative statements and formatting rules in this document.
Pattern Producers MUST specify their conformance in terms of the conformance levels defined in section
7.3.

7.2 Pattern Consumer

Software that consumes STIX patterns is known as a "Pattern Consumer". Such software MUST support
the consumption of patterns that conform to all normative statements and formatting rules in this
document. Pattern Consumers MUST specify their conformance in terms of the conformance levels
defined in section 7.3.

7.3 Conformance Levels

7.3.1 Level 1: Basic Conformance
Software that conforms to the minimum required aspects of the patterning specification, is known as a
“Level 1 STIX Patterning Implementation”.

Such software MUST support the following features by conforming to all normative statements and
behaviors in the referenced sections:
● Single Observation Expressions (omitting Qualifiers), as described in section 4.1
● All Comparison Operators, as described in section 4.2.1

This level of conformance is intended primarily for software that is deployed at endpoints or network
boundaries and which is architecturally unable to maintain state, as would be required in order to support
Qualifiers such as WITHIN.

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7.3.2 Level 2: Basic Conformance plus Observation Operators
Software that supports the minimum required aspects of the patterning specification but can operate on
multiple Observations, is known as a “Level 2 STIX Patterning Implementation”.

Such software MUST support the following features by conforming to all normative statements and
behaviors in the referenced sections:
● Single and Compound Observation Expressions (omitting Qualifiers) as described in section 4.1
● All Comparison Operators, as described in section 4.2.1
● The AND Observation Operator, as described in section 4.1.2
● The OR Observation Operator, as described in section 4.1.2

This level of conformance is intended primarily for software such as HIDS that can detect patterns across
separate Observations but may not support temporal-based patterning.

7.3.3 Level 3: Full Conformance

Software that is fully conformant with all of the capabilities of the patterning specification is known as a
"Level 3 STIX Patterning Implementation".

Such software MUST support the following features by conforming to all normative statements and
behaviors in the referenced sections:
● Section 2. Definitions
● Section 3. STIX Patterns
● Section 4. Pattern Expressions
● Section 5. Object Path Syntax

This level of conformance is intended primarily for software such as SIEMs that support temporal-based
patterning and can also aggregate and detect patterns across multiple and disparate sources of
Observations.

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Appendix A. Acknowledgments
The contributions of the OASIS Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) Technical Committee members,
enumerated in STIX™ Version 2.0. Part 1: STIX Core Concepts, are gratefully acknowledged.

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Appendix B. Revision History

Revision Date Editor Changes Made

01 2017-01-20 Bret Jordan, Initial Version

John Wunder,
Rich Piazza,
Ivan Kirillov,
Trey Darley

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