Detection: Detect Exchange Web Shell

Description

The following analytic identifies the creation of suspicious .aspx files in known drop locations for Exchange exploitation, specifically targeting paths associated with HAFNIUM group and vulnerabilities like ProxyShell and ProxyNotShell. It leverages data from the Endpoint datamodel, focusing on process and filesystem events. This activity is significant as it may indicate a web shell deployment, a common method for persistent access and remote code execution. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain unauthorized access, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially escalate privileges within the Exchange environment.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.process_name=System  by _time span=1h Processes.process_id Processes.process_name Processes.dest Processes.user 
 3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
 4| join process_guid, _time [
 5| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Filesystem where Filesystem.file_path IN ("*\\HttpProxy\\owa\\auth\\*", "*\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\aspnet_client\\*", "*\\HttpProxy\\OAB\\*") Filesystem.file_name IN( "*.aspx", "*.ashx") by _time span=1h Filesystem.user Filesystem.dest Filesystem.file_create_time Filesystem.file_name Filesystem.file_path 
 6| `drop_dm_object_name(Filesystem)` 
 7| fields _time dest user file_create_time file_name file_path process_name process_path process] 
 8| dedup file_create_time 
 9| table dest user file_create_time, file_name, file_path, process_name 
10| `detect_exchange_web_shell_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'
Sysmon EventID 11	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Implementation

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 and Filesystem node.

Known False Positives

The query is structured in a way that action (read, create) is not defined. Review the results of this query, filter, and tune as necessary. It may be necessary to generate this query specific to your endpoint product.

Associated Analytic Story

• BlackByte Ransomware

• CISA AA22-257A

• HAFNIUM Group

• ProxyNotShell

• ProxyShell

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel/master/Sample%20Data/Feeds/MSTICIoCs-ExchangeServerVulnerabilitiesDisclosedMarch2021.csv

• https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2021/8/17/from-pwn2own-2021-a-new-attack-surface-on-microsoft-exchange-proxyshell

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6iHw258RI

• https://www.huntress.com/blog/rapid-response-microsoft-exchange-servers-still-vulnerable-to-proxyshell-exploit#what-should-you-do

Detection Testing

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: 7