Windows System Discovery Using Qwinsta
Description
The following analytic identifies the execution of qwinsta.exe executable in Windows Operating System. This Windows executable file can display information about sessions on a remote desktop session host server. The information includes servername, sessionname, username and many more. This tool is being abused of Qakbot malware to gather information to the targeted or compromised host that will be send back to its Command and control server.
- Type: Hunting
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2022-10-21
- Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
- ID: 2e765c1b-144a-49f0-93d0-1df4287cca04
Annotations
Kill Chain Phase
- Reconnaissance
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 3
- CIS 5
- CIS 16
CVE
Search
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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.process_name = "qwinsta.exe" OR Processes.original_file_name = "qwinsta.exe" by Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.process Processes.user Processes.dest Processes.parent_process_id Processes.original_file_name
| `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
|`security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_system_discovery_using_qwinsta_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_system_discovery_using_qwinsta_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
To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the Endpoint
datamodel in the Processes
node. In addition, confirm the latest CIM App 4.20 or higher is installed and the latest TA for the endpoint product.
Known False Positives
Administrator may execute this commandline tool for auditing purposes. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
25.0 | 50 | 50 | System qwinsta domain discovery on $dest$ |
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
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/qwinsta
- https://securelist.com/qakbot-technical-analysis/103931/
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: 1