ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1552.002 | Credentials in Registry | Credential Access |
T1552 | Unsecured Credentials | Credential Access |
Detection: Windows Credentials in Registry Reg Query
Description
The following analytic identifies processes querying the registry for potential passwords or credentials. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line executions that access specific registry paths known to store sensitive information. This activity is significant as it may indicate credential theft attempts, often used by adversaries or post-exploitation tools like winPEAS. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to privilege escalation, persistence, or lateral movement within the network, posing a severe security risk.
Search
1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_reg` AND Processes.process = "* query *" AND Processes.process IN ("*\\Software\\ORL\\WinVNC3\\Password*", "*\\SOFTWARE\\RealVNC\\WinVNC4 /v password*", "*\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\SNMP*", "*\\Software\\TightVNC\\Server*", "*\\Software\\SimonTatham\\PuTTY\\Sessions*", "*\\Software\\OpenSSH\\Agent\\Keys*", "*password*") by Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.dest Processes.user
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
6| `windows_credentials_in_registry_reg_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' |
Windows Event Log Security 4688 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Security' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
process_reg | (Processes.process_name=reg.exe OR Processes.original_file_name=reg.exe) |
windows_credentials_in_registry_reg_query_filter | search * |
windows_credentials_in_registry_reg_query_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 |
---|---|---|---|
reg query commandline $process$ in $dest$ | 25 | 50 | 50 |
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: 3