Name:Powershell Remote Thread To Known Windows Process id:ec102cb2-a0f5-11eb-9b38-acde48001122 version:12 date:None author:Teoderick Contreras, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic detects suspicious PowerShell processes attempting to inject code into critical Windows processes using CreateRemoteThread.
It leverages Sysmon EventCode 8 to identify instances where PowerShell spawns threads in processes like svchost.exe, csrss.exe, and others.
This activity is significant as it is commonly used by malware such as TrickBot and offensive tools like Cobalt Strike to execute malicious payloads, establish reverse shells, or download additional malware.
If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to unauthorized code execution, privilege escalation, and persistent access within the environment. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 8
search:`sysmon` EventCode=8 SourceImage IN ( "*\\powershell_ise.exe", "*\\powershell.exe", "*\\pwsh.exe" ) TargetImage IN ( "*\\csrss.exe", "*\\explorer.exe", "*\\gpupdate.exe", "*\\services.exe", "*\\smss.exe", "*\\spoolsv.exe", "*\\svchost.exe", "*\\taskhost.exe", "*\\userinit.exe", "*\\wininit.exe", "*\\winlogon.exe" ) | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(NewThreadId) as "NewThreadId" values(StartAddress) as "StartAddress" by dest signature_id signature SourceProcessGuid SourceProcessId SourceImage TargetProcessGuid TargetProcessId TargetImage StartModule StartFunction vendor_product | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `powershell_remote_thread_to_known_windows_process_filter`
how_to_implement:To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, Create Remote thread from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA. Tune and filter known instances of create remote thread may be used. known_false_positives:No false positives have been identified at this time. References: -https://thedfirreport.com/2021/01/11/trickbot-still-alive-and-well/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'7d' latest_offset:'0' analytic_story:['Trickbot']
