ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1055 | Process Injection | Defense Evasion |
T1055.002 | Portable Executable Injection | Privilege Escalation |
Detection: Windows Process Injection With Public Source Path
Description
The following analytic detects a process from a non-standard file path on Windows attempting to create a remote thread in another process. This is identified using Sysmon EventCode 8, focusing on processes not originating from typical system directories. This behavior is significant as it often indicates process injection, a technique used by adversaries to evade detection or escalate privileges. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code within another process, potentially leading to unauthorized actions and further compromise of the system.
Search
1`sysmon` EventCode=8 TargetImage = "*.exe" AND NOT(SourceImage IN("C:\\Windows\\*", "C:\\Program File*", "%systemroot%\\*"))
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by SourceImage TargetImage signature TargetProcessGuid SourceProcessGuid TargetProcessId SourceProcessId StartAddress EventCode dest
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
5| `windows_process_injection_with_public_source_path_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sysmon EventID 8 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
windows_process_injection_with_public_source_path_filter | search * |
windows_process_injection_with_public_source_path_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
Default Configuration
This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Disabled | true |
Cron Schedule | 0 * * * * |
Earliest Time | -70m@m |
Latest Time | -10m@m |
Schedule Window | auto |
Creates Risk Event | False |
Implementation
To successfully implement this search, you must be ingesting data that records process activity from your hosts to populate the endpoint data model in the processes node. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
Known False Positives
Some security products or third party applications may utilize CreateRemoteThread, filter as needed before enabling as a notable.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
process $SourceImage$ create a remote thread to process $TargetImage$ on host $dest$ | 64 | 80 | 80 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
xmlwineventlog |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
xmlwineventlog |
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