Windows Disable Memory Crash Dump
Description
The following analytic detects attempts to disable the memory crash dump feature on Windows systems by setting the registry value to 0. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel, specifically monitoring changes to the CrashDumpEnabled registry key. This activity is significant because disabling crash dumps can hinder forensic analysis and incident response efforts. If confirmed malicious, this action could be part of a broader attack strategy, such as data destruction or system destabilization, as seen with HermeticWiper, potentially leading to significant operational disruptions and data loss.
- Type: TTP
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2024-05-12
- Author: Michael Haag, Splunk
- ID: 59e54602-9680-11ec-a8a6-acde48001122
Annotations
Kill Chain Phase
- Actions On Objectives
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where (Registry.registry_path="*\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\CrashControl\\CrashDumpEnabled") AND Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000000" by _time span=1h Registry.dest Registry.user Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.process_guid Registry.registry_key_name
| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_disable_memory_crash_dump_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_disable_memory_crash_dump_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
- Registry.dest
- Registry.registry_value_name
- Registry.registry_key_name
- Registry.registry_path
- Registry.registry_value_data
- Registry.process_guid
How To Implement
To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the Filesystem responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the Endpoint
datamodel in the Filesystem
and Registry
node.
Known False Positives
unknown
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
90.0 | 90 | 100 | A process was identified attempting to disable memory crash dumps on $dest$. |
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
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2022/02/threat-advisory-hermeticwiper.html
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/performance/memory-dump-file-options
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