Detection: Detect Software Download To Network Device

EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION

This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2025-05-02 ID: cc590c66-f65f-48f2-986a-4797244762f8 Author: Mikael Bjerkeland, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies unauthorized software downloads to network devices via TFTP, FTP, or SSH/SCP. It detects this activity by analyzing network traffic events on specific ports (69, 21, 22) from devices categorized as network, router, or switch. This activity is significant because adversaries may exploit netbooting to load unauthorized operating systems, potentially compromising network integrity. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized control over network devices, enabling further attacks, data exfiltration, or persistent access within the network.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Network_Traffic where (All_Traffic.transport=udp AND All_Traffic.dest_port=69) OR (All_Traffic.transport=tcp AND All_Traffic.dest_port=21) OR (All_Traffic.transport=tcp AND All_Traffic.dest_port=22) AND All_Traffic.dest_category!=common_software_repo_destination AND All_Traffic.src_category=network OR All_Traffic.src_category=router OR All_Traffic.src_category=switch by All_Traffic.src All_Traffic.dest All_Traffic.dest_port 
3| `drop_dm_object_name("All_Traffic")` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `detect_software_download_to_network_device_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
detect_software_download_to_network_device_filter	`search *`

detect_software_download_to_network_device_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
T1542.005	TFTP Boot	Defense Evasion

Exploitation

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 13

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 Notable	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Risk Event	True

This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

This search looks for Network Traffic events to TFTP, FTP or SSH/SCP ports from network devices. Make sure to tag any network devices as network, router or switch in order for this detection to work. If the TFTP traffic doesn't traverse a firewall nor packet inspection, these events will not be logged. This is typically an issue if the TFTP server is on the same subnet as the network device. There is also a chance of the network device loading software using a DHCP assigned IP address (netboot) which is not in the Asset inventory.

Known False Positives

This search will also report any legitimate attempts of software downloads to network devices as well as outbound SSH sessions from network devices.

Associated Analytic Story

Router and Infrastructure Security

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

Potentially unauthorized software download to $dest$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
dest	system	25	No Threat Objects

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	❌ Failing	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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: 6