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Description

The following analytic detects when a new certificate is requested or granted against Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) using a Subject Alternative Name (SAN). It leverages Windows Security Event Codes 4886 and 4887 to identify these actions. This activity is significant because improperly configured certificate templates can be exploited for privilege escalation and environment compromise. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain elevated privileges or persist within the environment, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information and further exploitation.

  • Type: TTP

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

  • Last Updated: 2024-05-11
  • Author: Steven Dick
  • ID: cbe761fc-d945-4c8c-a71d-e26d12255d32

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1649 Steal or Forge Authentication Certificates Credential Access
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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`wineventlog_security` EventCode IN (4886,4887) Attributes="*SAN:*upn*" Attributes="*CertificateTemplate:*" 
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(name) as name values(status) as status values(Subject) as ssl_subject values(SubjectKeyIdentifier) as ssl_hash by Computer, EventCode, Requester, Attributes, RequestId 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`  
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| fillnull 
| rex field=Attributes "(?i)CertificateTemplate:(?<object>[^\r\n]+)" 
| rex field=Attributes "(?i)ccm:(?<req_src>[^\r\n]+)" 
| rex max_match=10 field=Attributes "(?i)(upn=(?<req_user_1>[^\r\n&]+))" 
| rex max_match=10 field=Attributes "(?i)(dns=(?<req_dest_1>[^\r\n&]+))" 
| rex field=Requester "(.+\\\\)?(?<src_user>[^\r\n]+)" 
| eval flavor_text = case(EventCode=="4886","A suspicious certificate was requested using request ID: ".'RequestId',EventCode=="4887", "A suspicious certificate was issued using request ID: ".'RequestId'.". To revoke this certifacte use this request ID or the SSL fingerprint [".'ssl_hash'."]"), dest = upper(coalesce(req_dest_1,req_dest_2)), src = upper(coalesce(req_src,Computer)) 
| fields - req_* 
| rename Attributes as object_attrs, EventCode as signature_id, name as signature, RequestId as ssl_serial, Requester as ssl_subject_common_name
| `windows_steal_authentication_certificates___esc1_abuse_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: windows_steal_authentication_certificates_-_esc1_abuse_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
  • Attributes
  • Computer
  • EventCode
  • Requester
  • RequestId

How To Implement

To implement this analytic, enhanced Audit Logging must be enabled on AD CS and within Group Policy Management for CS server. See Page 115 of first reference. Recommend throttle correlation by RequestId/ssl_serial at minimum.

Known False Positives

False positives may be generated in environments where administrative users or processes are allowed to generate certificates with Subject Alternative Names. Sources or templates used in these processes may need to be tuned out for accurate function.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
60.0 100 60 Possible AD CS ESC1 activity by $src_user$ - $flavor_text$

: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