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Description

The following analytic detects the modification of ACL permissions to files or folders, making them accessible to everyone. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on processes like "cacls.exe," "icacls.exe," and "xcacls.exe" with specific command-line arguments. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to evade ACLs or access protected files. If confirmed malicious, this could allow unauthorized access to sensitive data, potentially leading to data breaches or further system compromise.

  • Type: Anomaly
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2024-05-19
  • Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
  • ID: 7e8458cc-acca-11eb-9e3f-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1222 File and Directory Permissions Modification Defense Evasion
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.AE
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Processes.process) as process values(Processes.process_id) as process_id count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name = "cacls.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "icacls.exe" OR Processes.process_name = "xcacls.exe") AND Processes.process = "*/G*" AND (Processes.process = "* everyone:*"  OR Processes.process = "* SYSTEM:*" OR Processes.process = "* S-1-1-0:*") by Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.dest Processes.user 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `modify_acl_permission_to_files_or_folder_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: modify_acl_permission_to_files_or_folder_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.parent_process_name
  • Processes.process_name
  • Processes.dest
  • Processes.user
  • Processes.process
  • Processes.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

administrators may use this command. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
32.0 40 80 Suspicious ACL permission modification 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