Detection: Windows System Remote Discovery With Query

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of query.exe with command-line arguments aimed at discovering data on remote devices. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions. This activity is significant as adversaries may use query.exe to gain situational awareness and perform Active Directory discovery on compromised endpoints. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to identify various details about a system, aiding in further lateral movement and privilege escalation within the network.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Processes.process_current_directory) as Processes.process_current_directory values(Processes.process_id) as Processes.process_id values(Processes.process) as Processes.process values(Processes.parent_process_id) as Processes.parent_process_id values(Processes.parent_process) as Processes.parent_process count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name="query.exe" OR Processes.original_file_name="query.exe") AND (Processes.process="*/server*") AND NOT Processes.process IN ("*/server:localhost*", "*/server:127.0.0.1*") by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.process_name Processes.parent_process_name 
 3
 4| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
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 6| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
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 8| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
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10| `windows_system_remote_discovery_with_query_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'

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

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

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

Administrators or power users may use this command for troubleshooting.

Associated Analytic Story

• Active Directory Discovery

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

The user $user$ ran the Query command to enumerate the remote system $dest$

References

• https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1033/

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: 1