Detection: Windows Cached Domain Credentials Reg Query

Description

The following analytic identifies a process command line querying the CachedLogonsCount registry value in the Winlogon registry. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line executions and registry queries. Monitoring this activity is significant as it can indicate the use of post-exploitation tools like Winpeas, which gather information about login caching settings. If confirmed malicious, this activity could help attackers understand login caching configurations, potentially aiding in credential theft or lateral movement within the network.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where  `process_reg` AND Processes.process = "* query *" AND Processes.process = "*\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon*" AND Processes.process = "*CACHEDLOGONSCOUNT*" by Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.dest Processes.user 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `windows_cached_domain_credentials_reg_query_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	N/A	'crowdstrike:events:sensor'	'crowdstrike'
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'
Windows Event Log Security 4688	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Security'

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Implementation

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

Associated Analytic Story

• Prestige Ransomware

• Windows Post-Exploitation

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/14/new-prestige-ransomware-impacts-organizations-in-ukraine-and-poland/

• https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/troubleshoot/windows-server/user-profiles-and-logon/cached-domain-logon-information

• https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/tree/master/winPEAS

Detection Testing

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: GitHub | Version: 3