Detection: Windows Modify System Firewall with Notable Process Path

Description

The following analytic detects suspicious modifications to system firewall rules, specifically allowing execution of applications from notable and potentially malicious file paths. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line executions involving firewall rule changes. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to bypass firewall restrictions to execute malicious files. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute unauthorized code, potentially leading to further system compromise, data exfiltration, or persistence within the environment.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.process = "*firewall*" Processes.process = "*allow*" Processes.process = "*add*" Processes.process = "*ENABLE*" Processes.process IN ("*\\windows\\fonts\\*", "*\\windows\\temp\\*", "*\\users\\public\\*", "*\\windows\\debug\\*", "*\\Users\\Administrator\\Music\\*", "*\\Windows\\servicing\\*", "*\\Users\\Default\\*","*Recycle.bin*", "*\\Windows\\Media\\*", "\\Windows\\repair\\*", "*\\temp\\*", "*\\PerfLogs\\*") by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `windows_modify_system_firewall_with_notable_process_path_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

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

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

A network operator or systems administrator may utilize an automated or manual execution of this firewall rule that may generate false positives. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

• Compromised Windows Host

• NjRAT

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security/more-than-just-a-rat-unveiling-njrat-s-mbr-wiping-capabilities.html

Detection Testing

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: 4