Detection: Windows Change Default File Association For No File Ext

Description

The following analytic detects attempts to change the default file association for files without an extension to open with Notepad.exe. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific command-line patterns and registry modifications. This activity is significant as it can indicate an attempt to manipulate file handling behavior, a technique observed in APT and ransomware attacks like Prestige. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening files, potentially leading to system compromise or data exfiltration.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime  from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_reg` AND Processes.process="* add *" AND Processes.process="* HKCR\\*" AND Processes.process="*\\shell\\open\\command*" AND  Processes.process= *Notepad.exe* by  Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.dest Processes.user 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| rex field=process "Notepad\.exe (?<file_name_association>.*$)" 
5| rex field=file_name_association "\.(?<extension>[^\.]*$)" 
6| where isnull(extension) and isnotnull(file_name_association) 
7| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
8| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
9| `windows_change_default_file_association_for_no_file_ext_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

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

• Compromised Windows Host

• Prestige Ransomware

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/14/new-prestige-ransomware-impacts-organizations-in-ukraine-and-poland/

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