GitHub Repo

Detection: Windows Level RMM Watchdog Task Created

Updated Date: 2026-04-13 ID: c4abe40f-91fb-42c0-bcc1-74ada766d0d8 Author: Raven Tait, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

Detects the watchdog task created when Level is installed. Level is a commercial remote management tool from Level.io. Remote management tools, when used for legitimate purposes, can help IT professionals and system administrators remotely access and manage computer systems. However, threat actors may exploit these tools for malicious purposes. It can be used to maintain persistence and execution on a host by a malicious actor.

 1`wineventlog_security`
 2EventID="4698"
 3TaskName="\\Level\\Level Watchdog"
 4
 5| fillnull
 6
 7| stats count min(_time) as firstTime
 8              max(_time) as lastTime
 9  by EventID TaskName Computer
10
11
12| rename Computer as dest
13
14| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
15
16| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
17
18| `windows_level_rmm_watchdog_task_created_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Windows Event Log Security 4698 Windows icon Windows 'XmlWinEventLog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Security'

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_ctime convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)
windows_level_rmm_watchdog_task_created_filter search *
windows_level_rmm_watchdog_task_created_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
T1053 Scheduled Task/Job Execution
T1219 Remote Access Tools Persistence
Command and Control
Exploitation
Installation
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

Legitimate IT professionals and system administrators may use Level remote management tools for authorized access and maintenance. Filter alerts for approved remote management software to reduce false positives.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Level RRM Watchdog task [$TaskName$] created on $dest$.

Risk Object Risk Object Type Risk Score Threat Objects
dest system 20 No Threat Objects

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation ✅ Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit ✅ Passing Dataset XmlWinEventLog:Security XmlWinEventLog
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset XmlWinEventLog:Security 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