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Description

The following analytic identifies Windows Service Control, sc.exe, attempting to delete a service. This is typically identified in parallel with other instances of service enumeration of attempts to stop a service and then delete it. Adversaries utilize this technique to terminate security services or other related services to continue there objective and evade detections.

  • Type: TTP

  • Product: Splunk Behavioral Analytics

  • Last Updated: 2021-11-24
  • Author: Teoderick Contreras, splunk
  • ID: a0c8c292-d01a-11eb-aa18-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1489 Service Stop Impact
T1543 Create or Modify System Process Persistence, Privilege Escalation
T1543.003 Windows Service Persistence, Privilege Escalation
Kill Chain Phase
  • Actions On Objectives
  • Installation
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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 $main = from source  
| eval timestamp = time  
| eval metadata_uid = metadata.uid  
| eval process_pid = process.pid 
| eval process_file = process.file 
| eval process_file_path = process_file.path 
| eval process_file_name = lower(process_file.name) 
| eval process_cmd_line = process.cmd_line 
| eval actor_user = actor.user 
| eval actor_user_name = actor_user.name 
| eval actor_process = actor.process 
| eval actor_process_pid = actor_process.pid 
| eval actor_process_file = actor_process.file 
| eval actor_process_file_path = actor_process_file.path 
| eval actor_process_file_name = actor_process_file.name 
| eval device_hostname = device.hostname 
| where process_file_name="sc.exe" AND process_cmd_line LIKE "%delete%" --finding_report--

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: attempt_to_delete_services_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.

  • process.pid
  • process.file.path
  • process.file.name
  • process.cmd_line
  • actor.user.name
  • actor.process.pid
  • actor.process.file.path
  • actor.process.file.name
  • device.hostname

How To Implement

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, parent process, and command-line executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.

Known False Positives

It is possible administrative scripts may start/stop/delete services. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
36.0 60 60 An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest_device_id$ by user $dest_user_id$ attempting to delete a service.

: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: 6