Detection rules › Elastic
System Time Discovery
Detects the usage of commonly used system time discovery techniques, which attackers may use during the reconnaissance phase after compromising a system.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Discovery | T1124 System Time Discovery, T1614 System Location Discovery |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body elastic
[metadata]
bypass_bbr_timing = true
creation_date = "2023/01/24"
integration = ["windows", "endpoint", "system"]
maturity = "production"
updated_date = "2026/03/24"
[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
building_block_type = "default"
description = """
Detects the usage of commonly used system time discovery techniques, which attackers may use during the reconnaissance
phase after compromising a system.
"""
from = "now-9m"
index = [
"endgame-*",
"logs-endpoint.events.process-*",
"logs-system.security*",
"logs-windows.*",
"winlogbeat-*",
]
language = "eql"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "System Time Discovery"
risk_score = 21
rule_id = "06568a02-af29-4f20-929c-f3af281e41aa"
severity = "low"
tags = [
"Domain: Endpoint",
"OS: Windows",
"Use Case: Threat Detection",
"Tactic: Discovery",
"Data Source: Elastic Defend",
"Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
"Rule Type: BBR",
"Data Source: Windows Security Event Logs",
]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "eql"
query = '''
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
(
(
(process.name: "net.exe" or (process.name : "net1.exe" and not process.parent.name : "net.exe")) and
process.args : "time" and not process.args : "/set"
) or
(process.name: "w32tm.exe" and process.args: "/tz") or
(process.name: "tzutil.exe" and process.args: "/g")
) and not user.id : ("S-1-5-18", "S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20")
'''
[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1124"
name = "System Time Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1124/"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1614"
name = "System Location Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1614/"
[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0007"
name = "Discovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/"
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: process
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
(
(
(process.name: "net.exe" or (process.name : "net1.exe" and not process.parent.name : "net.exe")) and
process.args : "time" and not process.args : "/set"
) or
(process.name: "w32tm.exe" and process.args: "/tz") or
(process.name: "tzutil.exe" and process.args: "/g")
) and not user.id : ("S-1-5-18", "S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20")
Exclusions
Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.
| Field | Kind | Excluded values |
|---|---|---|
user.id | eq | S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19, S-1-5-20 |
Indicators
Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
event.type | eq |
|
process.args | wildcard |
|
process.name | wildcard |
|