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Description

The following analytic identifies instances where ipconfig.exe, systeminfo.exe, or similar tools are executed by a non-standard parent process, excluding CMD, PowerShell, or Explorer. This detection leverages Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) telemetry to monitor process creation events. Such behavior is significant as it may indicate adversaries using injected processes to perform system discovery, a tactic observed in FIN7's JSSLoader. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow attackers to gather critical host information, aiding in further exploitation or lateral movement within the network.

  • Type: TTP
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2024-05-16
  • Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
  • ID: 6c3f7dd8-153c-11ec-ac2d-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
T1059.007 JavaScript Execution
Kill Chain Phase
  • Installation
NIST
  • DE.CM
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 = "ipconfig.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "systeminfo.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "net.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "net1.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "arp.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "nslookup.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "route.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "netstat.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "whoami.exe") AND NOT (Processes.parent_process_name = "cmd.exe" OR Processes.parent_process_name = "powershell*" OR Processes.parent_process_name="pwsh.exe" OR Processes.parent_process_name = "explorer.exe") by Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process_id Processes.process Processes.dest Processes.user 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `cmdline_tool_not_executed_in_cmd_shell_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: cmdline_tool_not_executed_in_cmd_shell_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

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

A network operator or systems administrator may utilize an automated host discovery application that may generate false positives. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
56.0 70 80 A non-standard parent process $parent_process_name$ spawned child process $process_name$ to execute command-line tool on $dest$.

: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: 3