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Description

The following analytic detects a user authenticating with special privileges on 30 or more remote endpoints within a 5-minute window. It leverages Event ID 4672 from Windows Security logs to identify this behavior. This activity is significant as it may indicate lateral movement or remote code execution by an adversary. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could gain extensive control over the network, potentially leading to privilege escalation, data exfiltration, or further compromise of the environment. Security teams should adjust detection thresholds based on their specific environment.

  • Type: TTP

  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud

  • Last Updated: 2024-05-24
  • Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
  • ID: 4c461f5a-c2cc-4e86-b132-c262fc9edca7

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1087 Account Discovery Discovery
T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares Lateral Movement
T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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 `wineventlog_security` EventCode=4672 AND NOT(Caller_User_Name IN ("DWM-1","DWM-2","DWM-3","LOCAL SERVICE","NETWORK SERVICE","SYSTEM","*$")) 
| bucket span=5m _time 
| stats dc(Computer) AS unique_targets values(Computer) as dest values(PrivilegeList) as privileges by _time, Caller_User_Name 
| rename Caller_User_Name as user
| where unique_targets > 30 
| `windows_special_privileged_logon_on_multiple_hosts_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: windows_special_privileged_logon_on_multiple_hosts_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Required fields

List of fields required to use this analytic.

  • _time
  • EventCode
  • Caller_User_Name
  • Computer
  • PrivilegeList

How To Implement

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting special logon events. The Advanced Security Audit policy setting Audit Special Logon within Logon/Logoff need to be enabled.

Known False Positives

Vulnerability scanners or system administration tools may also trigger this detection. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
64.0 80 80 A user $user$ obtained special privileges on a large number of endpoints (Count: $unique_targets$) within 5 minutes.

:information_source: The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

Reference

Test Dataset

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 | version: 3