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Description

The following analytic identifies renamed instances of PsExec.exe being utilized on an endpoint. Most instances, it is highly probable to capture Psexec.exe or other SysInternal utility usage with the command-line argument of -accepteula. During triage, validate this is the legitimate version of PsExec by reviewing the PE metadata. In addition, review parallel processes for further suspicious behavior.

  • Type: Hunting
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2022-04-07
  • Author: Michael Haag, Splunk
  • ID: 683e6196-b8e8-11eb-9a79-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1569 System Services Execution
T1569.002 Service Execution Execution
Kill Chain Phase
  • Installation
NIST
  • DE.AE
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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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!=psexec.exe OR Processes.process_name!=psexec64.exe) AND Processes.original_file_name=psexec.c by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id Processes.original_file_name 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `detect_renamed_psexec_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: detect_renamed_psexec_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

Limited false positives should be present. It is possible some third party applications may use older versions of PsExec, filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
27.0 30 90 The following $process_name$ has been identified as renamed, spawning from $parent_process_name$ on $dest$ by $user$.

:information_source: 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

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: 4