Windows Special Privileged Logon On Multiple Hosts
Description
The following analytic leverages Event ID 4672 to identify a source user authenticating with special privileges across a large number remote endpoints. Specifically, the logic will trigger when a source user obtains special privileges across 30 or more target computers within a 5 minute timespan. Special privileges are assigned to a new logon session when sensitive privileges like SeDebugPrivilege and SeImpersonatePrivilege are assigned. This behavior could represent an adversary who is moving laterally and executing remote code across the network. It can also be triggered by other behavior like an adversary enumerating network shares. As environments differ across organizations, security teams should customize the thresholds of this detection as needed.
- Type: TTP
-
Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Last Updated: 2023-03-27
- Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
- ID: 4c461f5a-c2cc-4e86-b132-c262fc9edca7
Annotations
ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4672 AND NOT(Caller_User_Name IN ("DWM-1","DWM-2","DWM-3","LOCAL SERVICE","NETWORK SERVICE","SYSTEM","*$"))
| bucket span=5m _time
| stats dc(Computer) AS unique_targets values(Computer) as host_targets values(PrivilegeList) as privileges by _time, Caller_User_Name
| where unique_targets > 30
| `windows_special_privileged_logon_on_multiple_hosts_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_special_privileged_logon_on_multiple_hosts_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
- EventCode
- Caller_User_Name
- Computer
- PrivilegeList
How To Implement
To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting special logon events. The Advanced Security Audit policy setting Audit Special Logon
within Logon/Logoff
need to be enabled.
Known False Positives
Vulnerability scanners or system administration tools may also trigger this detection. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
64.0 | 80 | 80 | A source user $Caller_User_Name$ obtained special privileges on a large number of endpoints within 5 minutes. |
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/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4672
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/dn319113(v=ws.11)
- https://thedfirreport.com/2023/01/23/sharefinder-how-threat-actors-discover-file-shares/
- https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0008/
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