Windows New Deny Permission Set On Service SD Via Sc.EXE

Original Source: [splunk source]
Name:Windows New Deny Permission Set On Service SD Via Sc.EXE
id:d0f6a5e5-dbfd-46e1-8bd5-2e2905947c33
version:1
date:2024-12-05
author:Nasreddine Bencherchali, Michael Haag, Splunk
status:production
type:Anomaly
Description:The following analytic detects changes in a service security descriptor where a new deny ace has been added. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, specifically searching for any process execution involving the "sc.exe" binary with the "sdset" flag targeting any service and adding a dedicated deny ace. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to escalate their privileges, blind defenses and more.
Data_source:
  • -Sysmon EventID 1
  • -Windows Event Log Security 4688
  • -CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Processes.process) as process min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name=sc.exe OR Processes.original_file_name=sc.exe) Processes.process="*sdset *" Processes.process="*(D;*" Processes.process IN ("*;IU*", "*;S-1-5-4*", "*;SU*", "*;S-1-5-6*", "*;BA*", "*;S-1-5-32-544*", "*;SY*", "*;S-1-5-18*", "*;WD*", "*;S-1-1-0*", "*;AU*", "*;S-1-5-11*", "*;LS*", "*;S-1-5-19*") by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_new_deny_permission_set_on_service_sd_via_sc_exe_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 name, and process original file name. 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:None identified. Attempts to add deny aces to services, especially security-related services should be immediately investigated.
References:
  -https://www.sans.org/blog/red-team-tactics-hiding-windows-services/
  -https://news.sophos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/glupteba_final-1.pdf
  -https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1564/
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:
    - 'Defense Evasion or Unauthorized Access Via SDDL Tampering'
  asset_type:Endpoint
  confidence:50
  impact:60
  message:An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified attempting to disable security services on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$.
  mitre_attack_id:
    - 'T1564'
  observable:
    name:'user'
    type:'User'
    - role:
      - 'Victim'
    name:'dest'
    type:'Hostname'
    - role:
      - 'Victim'
    name:'process_name'
    type:'Process'
    - role:
      - 'Attacker'
  product:
    - 'Splunk Enterprise'
    - 'Splunk Enterprise Security'
    - 'Splunk Cloud'
  required_fields:
    - '_time'
    - 'Processes.dest'
    - 'Processes.user'
    - 'Processes.parent_process_name'
    - 'Processes.parent_process'
    - 'Processes.original_file_name'
    - 'Processes.process_name'
    - 'Processes.process'
    - 'Processes.process_id'
    - 'Processes.parent_process_path'
    - 'Processes.process_path'
    - 'Processes.parent_process_id'
  risk_score:30
  security_domain:endpoint

tests:
name:'True Positive Test'
 attack_data:
  data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1564/sc_sdset_tampering/sc_sdset_tampering_sysmon.log
  source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
  sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
manual_test:None