ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1047 | Windows Management Instrumentation | Execution |
Detection: Windows WMI Impersonate Token
Description
The following analytic detects potential WMI token impersonation activities in a process or command. It leverages Sysmon EventCode 10 to identify instances where wmiprvse.exe
has a duplicate handle or full granted access in a target process. This behavior is significant as it is commonly used by malware like Qakbot for privilege escalation or defense evasion. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges, evade defenses, and maintain persistence within the environment.
Search
1`sysmon` EventCode=10 SourceImage = "*\\wmiprvse.exe" GrantedAccess IN ("0x1478", "0x1fffff")
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by SourceImage TargetImage SourceProcessGUID TargetProcessGUID SourceProcessId TargetProcessId GrantedAccess CallTrace dest
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
5| `windows_wmi_impersonate_token_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sysmon EventID 10 | Windows | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
windows_wmi_impersonate_token_filter | search * |
windows_wmi_impersonate_token_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
This search requires Sysmon Logs and a Sysmon configuration, which includes EventCode 10. This search uses an input macro named sysmon
. We strongly recommend that you specify your environment-specific configurations (index, source, sourcetype, etc.) for Windows Sysmon logs. Replace the macro definition with configurations for your Splunk environment. The search also uses a post-filter macro designed to filter out known false positives.
Known False Positives
administrator may execute impersonate wmi object script for auditing. Filter is needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
wmiprvse.exe process having a duplicate or full Granted Access $GrantedAccess$ to $TargetImage$ 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: 2