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Description

The following analytic detects a registry modification that allows the 'Consent Admin' to perform operations requiring elevation without user consent or credentials. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically monitoring changes to the 'ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin' value within the Windows Policies System registry path. This activity is significant as it indicates a potential privilege escalation attempt, which could allow an attacker to execute high-privilege tasks without user approval. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized administrative access and control over the compromised machine, posing a severe security risk.

  • Type: TTP
  • Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
  • Datamodel: Endpoint
  • Last Updated: 2024-05-20
  • Author: Steven Dick, Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
  • ID: 7de17d7a-c9d8-11eb-a812-acde48001122

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation, Defense Evasion
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry WHERE (Registry.registry_path= "*\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System*" Registry.registry_value_name = ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin Registry.registry_value_data = "0x00000000") BY _time span=1h Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.process_guid Registry.dest Registry.user 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `allow_operation_with_consent_admin_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: allow_operation_with_consent_admin_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 logs with the registry value name, registry path, and registry value data from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 2.0 of the offical Sysmon TA. https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/5709

Known False Positives

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
25.0 50 50 Suspicious registry modification was performed on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$. This behavior is indicative of privilege escalation.

: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: 5