Name:Windows NorthStar C2 Agent Execution id:5f13d5b2-5181-487b-89eb-e2b471522202 version:2 date:None author:Raven Tait, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:Detects the initial agent or persistent agent processes for Northstar C2 being run.
NorthStarC2 is an open-source command and control framework developed for penetration testing and red teaming purposes by Engin Demirbilek.
NorthStar C2 Framework consists of two applications, a server-side GUI web application for managing sessions and a client-side stager to communicate with C2 server. 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.original_file_name="NorthstarStager.exe" OR Processes.process_name IN ( "NorthstarStager.exe", "SystemHealthCheck.exe" )
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:Some legitimate red team or penetration testing activities may use Northstar C2 agents. Filter alerts when these tools are approved for authorized testing. References: -https://github.com/EnginDemirbilek/NorthStarC2/ drilldown_searches: earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") | 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:['Compromised Windows Host']
