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Description

The following analytic detects access attempts to privileged Active Directory objects, such as Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins. It leverages Windows Security Event Code 4662 to identify when these sensitive objects are accessed. This activity is significant because such objects should rarely be accessed by normal users or processes, and unauthorized access attempts may indicate attacker enumeration or lateral movement within the domain. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow attackers to escalate privileges, persist in the environment, or gain control over critical domain resources.

  • Type: TTP

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

  • Last Updated: 2024-05-18
  • Author: Steven Dick
  • ID: dc2f58bc-8cd2-4e51-962a-694b963acde0

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID Technique Tactic
T1087 Account Discovery Discovery
T1087.002 Domain Account Discovery
Kill Chain Phase
  • Exploitation
NIST
  • DE.CM
CIS20
  • CIS 10
CVE 


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`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4662 ObjectName IN ( "CN=Account Operators,*", "CN=Administrators,*", "CN=Backup Operators,*", "CN=Cert Publishers,*", "CN=Certificate Service DCOM Access,*", "CN=Domain Admins,*", "CN=Domain Controllers,*", "CN=Enterprise Admins,*", "CN=Enterprise Read-only Domain Controllers,*", "CN=Group Policy Creator Owners,*", "CN=Incoming Forest Trust Builders,*", "CN=Microsoft Exchange Servers,*", "CN=Network Configuration Operators,*", "CN=Power Users,*", "CN=Print Operators,*", "CN=Read-only Domain Controllers,*", "CN=Replicators,*", "CN=Schema Admins,*", "CN=Server Operators,*", "CN=Exchange Trusted Subsystem,*", "CN=Exchange Windows Permission,*", "CN=Organization Management,*") 
| rex field=ObjectName "CN\=(?<object_name>[^,]+)" 
| stats values(Computer) as dest, values(object_name) as object_name, dc(ObjectName) as object_count, min(_time) as firstTime, max(_time) as lastTime, count by SubjectUserName 
| rename SubjectUserName as user 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `windows_ad_privileged_object_access_activity_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

:information_source: windows_ad_privileged_object_access_activity_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
  • ObjectName
  • EventCode
  • Computer
  • SubjectUserName

How To Implement

Enable Audit Directory Service Access via GPO and collect event code 4662. The required SACLs need to be created for the relevant objects. Be aware Splunk filters this event by default on the Windows TA.

Known False Positives

Service accounts or applications that routinely query Active Directory for information.

Associated Analytic Story

RBA

Risk Score Impact Confidence Message
40.0 80 50 The account $user$ accessed $object_count$ privileged AD object(s).

: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: 2