Detection: Conti Common Exec parameter

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 624919bc-c382-11eb-adcc-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of suspicious command-line arguments commonly associated with Conti ransomware, specifically targeting local drives and network shares for encryption. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process execution logs that include command-line details. This activity is significant because it indicates a potential ransomware attack, which can lead to widespread data encryption and operational disruption. If confirmed malicious, the impact could be severe, resulting in data loss, system downtime, and potential ransom demands.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
 3  WHERE Processes.process IN ("*-m local", "*-m local *", "*-m net", "*-m net *", "*-m all","*-m all *", "*-nomutex", "*-nomutex *")
 4  BY Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name
 5     Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid
 6     Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path
 7     Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
 8     Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
 9     Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user
10     Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
11
12| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
13
14| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
15
16| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
17
18| `conti_common_exec_parameter_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	Other	`'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

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
conti_common_exec_parameter_filter	`search *`

conti_common_exec_parameter_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1204	User Execution	Execution

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

Scattered Spider

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 Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

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

3rd party tool may have commandline parameter that can trigger this detection.

Associated Analytic Story

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$ executing specific Conti Ransomware related parameters.	user	user	50

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$ executing specific Conti Ransomware related parameters.	dest	system	50

Threat Objects

Field	Type
process_name	process_name
parent_process_name	parent_process_name

References

https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/details/win.conti

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: 15