ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1489 | Service Stop | Impact |
Detection: Excessive Attempt To Disable Services
Description
The following analytic identifies a suspicious series of command-line executions attempting to disable multiple services. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on processes where "sc.exe" is used with parameters like "config" or "Disabled" within a short time frame. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary's attempt to disable security or other critical services to further compromise the system. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to the attacker achieving persistence, evading detection, or disabling security mechanisms, thereby increasing the risk of further exploitation.
Search
1
2| 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 = "sc.exe" AND Processes.process="*config*" OR Processes.process="*Disabled*" by Processes.process_name Processes.parent_process_name Processes.dest Processes.user _time span=1m
3| where count >=4
4| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
5| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
6| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
7| `excessive_attempt_to_disable_services_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
---|---|---|---|
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2 | N/A | 'crowdstrike:events:sensor' |
'crowdstrike' |
Sysmon EventID 1 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' |
Windows Event Log Security 4688 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Security' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
excessive_attempt_to_disable_services_filter | search * |
excessive_attempt_to_disable_services_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
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
unknown
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
An excessive amount of $process_name$ was executed on $dest$ attempting to disable services. | 80 | 80 | 100 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
XmlWinEventLog |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
XmlWinEventLog |
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: 4