Name:Suspicious Reg exe Process id:a6b3ab4e-dd77-4213-95fa-fc94701995e0 version:7 date:2024-09-30 author:David Dorsey, Splunk status:production type:Anomaly Description:The following analytic identifies instances of reg.exe being launched from a command prompt (cmd.exe) that was not initiated by the user, as indicated by a parent process other than explorer.exe. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process and parent process names. This activity is significant because reg.exe is often used in registry manipulation, which can be indicative of malicious behavior such as persistence mechanisms or system configuration changes. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to modify critical system settings, potentially leading to privilege escalation or persistent access. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 1
-Windows Event Log Security 4688
-CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name != explorer.exe Processes.process_name =cmd.exe by Processes.user Processes.process_name Processes.parent_process_name Processes.dest Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id | `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | search [| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name=cmd.exe Processes.process_name= reg.exe by Processes.parent_process_id Processes.dest Processes.process_name | `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | rename parent_process_id as process_id |dedup process_id| table process_id dest] | `suspicious_reg_exe_process_filter`
how_to_implement:The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the `Processes` node of the `Endpoint` data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process. known_false_positives:It's possible for system administrators to write scripts that exhibit this behavior. If this is the case, the search will need to be modified to filter them out. References: -https://car.mitre.org/wiki/CAR-2013-03-001/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") starthoursago=168 | 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:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Windows Defense Evasion Tactics' - 'Disabling Security Tools' - 'DHS Report TA18-074A' asset_type:Endpoint confidence:50 impact:70 message:An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$ attempting to add a registry entry. mitre_attack_id: - 'T1112' observable: name:'user' type:'User' - role: - 'Victim' name:'dest' type:'Hostname' - role: - 'Victim' name:'parent_process_name' type:'Process' - role: - 'Attacker' name:'process_name' type:'Process' - role: - 'Attacker' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' required_fields: - '_time' - 'Processes.parent_process_name' - 'Processes.process_name' - 'Processes.user' - 'Processes.parent_process_name' - 'Processes.dest' - 'Processes.process_id' - 'Processes.parent_process_id' risk_score:35 security_domain:endpoint
