Detection rules › YARA-L

Recon Environment Enumeration System CISA Report

Severity
low
Type
hunt
Time window
15m
Match by
hostname
Author
Google Cloud Security
Source
github.com/chronicle/detection-rules

Detects system enumeration events as identified in CISA Living off the Land pdf. Alone they may be normal but in concert, they may be worth looking into

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
DiscoveryT1082 System Information Discovery

References

Event coverage

Rule body yaral

/*
 * Copyright 2023 Google LLC
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

rule recon_environment_enumeration_system_cisa_report {

  meta:
    author = "Google Cloud Security"
    description = "Detects system enumeration events as identified in CISA Living off the Land pdf. Alone they may be normal but in concert, they may be worth looking into"
    rule_id = "mr_086dede6-33ba-42df-b001-5595ceb0d589"
    rule_name = "Recon Environment Enumeration System CISA Report"
    type = "hunt"
    platform = "Windows"
    data_source = "microsoft sysmon, windows event logs"
    tactic = "TA0007"
    technique = "T1082"
    reference = "https://media.defense.gov/2023/May/24/2003229517/-1/-1/0/CSA_Living_off_the_Land.PDF"
    severity = "Low"
    priority = "Low"

  events:
    $process.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
    $process.principal.hostname = $hostname
    $process.target.process.command_line = $command_line

    re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `wevtutil.*qe.*security.*\/rd:true.*\/f:text.*\/q:.*\[System\[\(EventID`) nocase
    // below is the more specific command down to the event id, could comment out the about and use this instead if desired
    //re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `wevtutil.*qe.*security.*\/rd:true.*\/f:text.*\/q:\*\[System\[\(EventID=4624\).*TimeCreated\[@SystemTime.*\]\].*EventData\[Data.*\]\]`) nocase

    or

    // cisa report referenced cmd /c in their report throughout, can filter this in/out for tuning as desired
    // other wmic switches like /user and /password, these have been excluded to focus on the commands being issued since local access does not require these
    (
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*ldifde.exe.*-f.*-p.*subtree`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*reg.*query.*hklm\\software\\`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*systeminfo`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*tasklist.*\/v`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*whoami`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*volume.*list.*brief`) nocase or
        // cisa report called out wmic volume list brief, below is alternate that removed brief to widen criteria
        //re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*volume.*list`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*service.*brief`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*product.*list.*brief`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*baseboard.*list.*full`) nocase or
        re.regex($process.target.process.command_line, `(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*path.*win32_logicaldisk.*get.*(caption|filesystem|freespace|size|volumename)`) nocase
    )

  match:
    $hostname over 15m

  outcome:
    $risk_score = 35
    $event_count = count_distinct($process.metadata.id)
    $unique_command_line_threshold = max(5)
    // added to populate alert graph with additional context
    // Commented out principal.hostname because it is already represented in graph as match variable. If match changes, can uncomment to add to results
    //$principal_hostname = array_distinct($process.principal.hostname)
    $principal_process_pid = array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
    $principal_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
    $principal_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
    $principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
    $principal_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
    $principal_process_parent_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
    $target_process_pid = array_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
    $target_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
    $target_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
    $target_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
    $target_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
    $principal_user_userid = array_distinct($process.principal.user.userid)

  condition:
    // modify the condition value for command line to throttle how many of these commands can be issued until the rule is triggered
    $process and #command_line > 5
}

Detection logic

Fires when at least one $process event in the 15m window and $command_line occurs more than 5 times in the 15m window.

Events

$process PROCESS_LAUNCH (1, 4688)

  • target.process.command_line matches "wevtutil.*qe.*security.*\/rd:true.*\/f:text.*\/q:.*\[System\[\(EventID"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*ldifde.exe.*-f.*-p.*subtree"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*reg.*query.*hklm\\software\\"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*systeminfo"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*tasklist.*\/v"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*whoami"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*volume.*list.*brief"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*service.*brief"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*product.*list.*brief"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*baseboard.*list.*full"
  • target.process.command_line matches "(|cmd.*/c).*wmic.*path.*win32_logicaldisk.*get.*(caption|filesystem|freespace|size|volumename)"

Correlation

Match key
$hostname (principal.hostname)
Within
15m

Outcome

Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.

FieldExpression
risk_score35
event_countcount_distinct($process.metadata.id)
unique_command_line_thresholdmax(5)
principal_process_pidarray_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
principal_process_command_linearray_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
principal_process_file_sha256array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
principal_process_file_full_patharray_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
principal_process_product_specific_process_idarray_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
principal_process_parent_process_product_specific_process_idarray_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
target_process_pidarray_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
target_process_command_linearray_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
target_process_file_sha256array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
target_process_file_full_patharray_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
target_process_product_specific_process_idarray_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
principal_user_useridarray_distinct($process.principal.user.userid)