ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1569 | System Services | Execution |
T1569.002 | Service Execution | Execution |
Detection: First Time Seen Running Windows Service
EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION
This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.
Description
The following analytic detects the first occurrence of a Windows service running in your environment. It leverages Windows system event logs, specifically EventCode 7036, to identify services entering the "running" state. This activity is significant because the appearance of a new or previously unseen service could indicate the installation of unauthorized or malicious software. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, maintain persistence, or escalate privileges within the environment. Monitoring for new services helps in early detection of potential threats.
Search
1`wineventlog_system` EventCode=7036
2| rex field=Message "The (?<service>[-\(\)\s\w]+) service entered the (?<state>\w+) state"
3| where state="running"
4| lookup previously_seen_running_windows_services service as service OUTPUT firstTimeSeen
5| where isnull(firstTimeSeen) OR firstTimeSeen > relative_time(now(), `previously_seen_windows_services_window`)
6| table _time dest service
7| `first_time_seen_running_windows_service_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Windows Event Log System 7036 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:System' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
previously_seen_windows_services_window | "-70m@m" |
first_time_seen_running_windows_service_filter | search * |
first_time_seen_running_windows_service_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
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 Risk Event | True |
Implementation
While this search does not require you to adhere to Splunk CIM, you must be ingesting your Windows system event logs in order for this search to execute successfully. You should run the baseline search Previously Seen Running Windows Services - Initial
to build the initial table of child processes and hostnames for this search to work. You should also schedule at the same interval as this search the second baseline search Previously Seen Running Windows Services - Update
to keep this table up to date and to age out old Windows Services. Please update the previously_seen_windows_services_window
macro to adjust the time window. Please ensure that the Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Windows is version 8.0.0 or above.
Known False Positives
A previously unseen service is not necessarily malicious. Verify that the service is legitimate and that was installed by a legitimate process.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
tbd | 25 | 50 | 50 |
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | Not Applicable | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ❌ Failing | N/A | N/A |
N/A |
Integration | ❌ Failing | N/A | N/A |
N/A |
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: 6