Detection: Windows Unusual File Creation in Confluence Directory

Updated Date: 2026-04-13 ID: aa9d80d9-ed47-44da-aceb-2909ca4dc19e Author: Raven Tait, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

Detects executable file formats being created within the Confluence main directory. This can be indicative of exploitation of the Confluence web services to stage malware. This won't catch adversaries who modify the output location outside the Confluence directory when exploiting.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
 3  count min(_time) as firstTime
 4        max(_time) as lastTime
 5
 6from datamodel=Endpoint.Filesystem where
 7
 8Filesystem.file_path="*\\Atlassian\\Confluence\\*"
 9Filesystem.file_path IN (
10    "*.bat",
11    "*.cmd",
12    "*.dat",
13    "*.dll",
14    "*.exe",
15    "*.msc",
16    "*.ps1",
17    "*.vbe",
18    "*.vbs"
19)
20
21by Filesystem.dest Filesystem.file_create_time Filesystem.process_path
22   Filesystem.process_guid Filesystem.process_id Filesystem.file_path Filesystem.action
23   Filesystem.file_name Filesystem.user Filesystem.vendor_product
24
25
26| `drop_dm_object_name(Filesystem)`
27
28| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
29
30| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
31
32| `windows_unusual_file_creation_in_confluence_directory_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
windows_unusual_file_creation_in_confluence_directory_filter	`search *`

windows_unusual_file_creation_in_confluence_directory_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1190	Exploit Public-Facing Application	Initial Access
T1608.001	Upload Malware	Resource Development
T1608.002	Upload Tool	Resource Development

Delivery

Weaponization

DE.AE

CIS 10

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

This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

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

Some legitimate administrative or development activities may create executable files in the Confluence directory. Review and filter based on approved maintenance processes.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Executable file created under a Confluence path at $file_path$ on $dest$.

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	20	file_path

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: 1