Name:Windows Set Custom DNS ServerLevelPlugin Via Dnscmd id:9add7765-4af5-45aa-a078-3b32de303e3e version:2 date:None author:Raven Tait, Splunk status:production type:Anomaly Description:The following analytic detects command-line usage of dnscmd.exe to configure the Microsoft DNS ServerLevelPluginDll setting.
This setting allows the DNS service to load an arbitrary DLL, which can be abused by attackers with DNS administrative privileges to execute code in the context of the DNS service.
If confirmed malicious, this activity could enable persistence, privilege escalation, or domain controller compromise through malicious DLL loading. 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
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:Legitimate administrative activities may involve dnscmd.exe usage or registry changes for DLL management in DNS servers. Filter alerts to exclude authorized administrative actions. References: -https://medium.com/@esnesenon/feature-not-bug-dnsadmin-to-dc-compromise-in-one-line-a0f779b8dc83 -https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/dnscmd 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:['Windows Persistence Techniques']
