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Description

The following analytic detects the spawning of rundll32.exe without command-line arguments by spoolsv.exe, which is unusual and potentially indicative of exploitation attempts like CVE-2021-34527 (PrintNightmare). This detection leverages Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) telemetry, focusing on process creation events where spoolsv.exe is the parent process. This activity is significant as spoolsv.exe typically does not spawn other processes, and such behavior could indicate an active exploitation attempt. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or maintain persistence on the compromised endpoint.

  • Type: TTP
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2024-05-14
  • Author: Mauricio Velazco, Michael Haag, Splunk
  • ID: 15d905f6-da6b-11eb-ab82-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1547.012 Print Processors Persistence, Privilege Escalation
T1547 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution Persistence, Privilege Escalation
Kill Chain Phase
  • Installation
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name=spoolsv.exe `process_rundll32` by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `spoolsv_spawning_rundll32_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: spoolsv_spawning_rundll32_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _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

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

Limited false positives have been identified. There are limited instances where rundll32.exe may be spawned by a legitimate print driver.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
72.0 80 90 $parent_process_name$ has spawned $process_name$ on endpoint $dest$. This behavior is suspicious and related to PrintNightmare.

:information_source: The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

Reference

Test Dataset

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

source | version: 3