WinRM Spawning a Process

Original Source: [splunk source]
Name:WinRM Spawning a Process
id:a081836a-ba4d-11eb-8593-acde48001122
version:5
date:2024-11-13
author:Drew Church, Michael Haag, Splunk
status:experimental
type:TTP
Description:The following analytic detects suspicious processes spawned by WinRM (wsmprovhost.exe). It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific child processes like cmd.exe, powershell.exe, and others. This activity is significant as it may indicate exploitation attempts of vulnerabilities like CVE-2021-31166, which could lead to system instability or compromise. If confirmed malicious, attackers could execute arbitrary commands, escalate privileges, or maintain persistence, posing a severe threat to the environment.
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=wsmprovhost.exe Processes.process_name IN ("cmd.exe","sh.exe","bash.exe","powershell.exe","pwsh.exe","schtasks.exe","certutil.exe","whoami.exe","bitsadmin.exe","scp.exe") by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `winrm_spawning_a_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:Unknown. Add new processes or filter as needed. It is possible system management software may spawn processes from `wsmprovhost.exe`.
References:
  -https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/9b7fb0c0f3af2e53ed483e29e0d0f88ccf1c08ca/rules/windows/process_access/win_susp_shell_spawn_from_winrm.yml
  -https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2021/5/17/cve-2021-31166-a-wormable-code-execution-bug-in-httpsys
  -https://github.com/0vercl0k/CVE-2021-31166/blob/main/cve-2021-31166.py
drilldown_searches:
  :
tags:
  analytic_story:
    - 'CISA AA23-347A'
    - 'Rhysida Ransomware'
    - 'Unusual Processes'
  asset_type:Endpoint
  cve:
    - 'CVE-2021-31166'
  mitre_attack_id:
    - 'T1190'
  product:
    - 'Splunk Enterprise'
    - 'Splunk Enterprise Security'
    - 'Splunk Cloud'
  security_domain:endpoint

tests:
  :
manual_test:None