NLTest Domain Trust Discovery
Description
The following analytic identifies the execution of nltest.exe with command-line arguments /domain_trusts or /all_trusts to query Domain Trust information. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process execution logs and command-line arguments. This activity is significant as it indicates potential reconnaissance efforts by adversaries to understand domain trust relationships, which can inform their lateral movement strategies. If confirmed malicious, this activity could enable attackers to map out trusted domains, facilitating further compromise and pivoting within the network.
- Type: TTP
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2024-05-17
- Author: Michael Haag, Splunk
- ID: c3e05466-5f22-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002
Annotations
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_nltest` (Processes.process=*/domain_trusts* OR Processes.process=*/all_trusts*) by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `nltest_domain_trust_discovery_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
nltest_domain_trust_discovery_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.
- _time
- Processes.process_name
- Processes.process
- Processes.dest
- Processes.user
- Processes.parent_process
- Processes.process_id
- Processes.parent_process_id
How To Implement
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 may use nltest for troubleshooting purposes, otherwise, rarely used.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
| Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.0 | 30 | 50 | Domain trust discovery execution on $dest$ |
Reference
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1482/T1482.md
- https://malware.news/t/lets-learn-trickbot-implements-network-collector-module-leveraging-cmd-wmi-ldap/19104
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1482/
- https://owasp.org/www-pdf-archive/Red_Team_Operating_in_a_Modern_Environment.pdf
- https://ss64.com/nt/nltest.html
- https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/techniques/domain-trust-discovery/
- https://thedfirreport.com/2020/10/08/ryuks-return/
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: 3