Detection rules › Elastic

Suspicious Child Process from WinGet Configuration Remoting Server

Source
github.com/elastic/protections-artifacts

Identifies high-risk interpreters and LOLBins spawned by ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe, the WinGet Configuration remoting worker. Legitimate WinGet configuration may invoke some of these rarely; unexpected children can indicate abuse of the WinGet Configuration COM API to run attacker-controlled actions through Microsoft-signed plumbing, as described in public research on DSCourier.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body

[rule]
description = """
Identifies high-risk interpreters and LOLBins spawned by ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe, the WinGet Configuration
remoting worker. Legitimate WinGet configuration may invoke some of these rarely; unexpected children can indicate abuse
of the WinGet Configuration COM API to run attacker-controlled actions through Microsoft-signed plumbing, as described
in public research on DSCourier.
"""
id = "a3c7e9b1-2d4f-5a6c-8e0b-1f3d5a7c9e0b"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Suspicious Child Process from WinGet Configuration Remoting Server"
os_list = ["windows"]
reference = ["https://github.com/DylanDavis1/DSCourier"]
version = "1.0.1"

query = '''
process where event.action == "start" and
  process.parent.name : "ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe" and
  process.name : ("powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "cscript.exe",
                  "bash.exe", "wsl.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "msiexec.exe",
                  "msbuild.exe", "installutil.exe", "regasm.exe", "regsvcs.exe", "curl.exe", "openssh.exe")
'''

min_endpoint_version = "8.16.0"
optional_actions = []
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0
tree = true

[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.parent.entity_id"
state = 0

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1059"
name = "Command and Scripting Interpreter"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1059.001"
name = "PowerShell"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/001/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1218"
name = "System Binary Proxy Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "8.16.0"

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: process

process where event.action == "start" and
  process.parent.name : "ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe" and
  process.name : ("powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "cscript.exe",
                  "bash.exe", "wsl.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "msiexec.exe",
                  "msbuild.exe", "installutil.exe", "regasm.exe", "regsvcs.exe", "curl.exe", "openssh.exe")

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

FieldKindValuesSearch
event.actioneq
  • start corpus 391 (elastic 391)
field:"EventType" kind:eq value:"start"
process.namewildcard
  • bash.exe
  • cmd.exe corpus 121 (elastic 92, splunk 29)
  • cscript.exe corpus 67 (elastic 65, splunk 2)
  • curl.exe corpus 34 (elastic 31, splunk 3)
  • installutil.exe corpus 37 (elastic 32, splunk 5)
  • msbuild.exe corpus 39 (elastic 36, splunk 3)
  • mshta.exe corpus 84 (elastic 79, splunk 5)
  • msiexec.exe corpus 46 (elastic 41, splunk 5)
  • openssh.exe
  • powershell.exe corpus 184 (elastic 140, splunk 44)
  • pwsh.exe corpus 77 (elastic 48, splunk 29)
  • regasm.exe corpus 26 (elastic 24, splunk 2)
  • regsvcs.exe corpus 23 (elastic 21, splunk 2)
  • regsvr32.exe corpus 73 (elastic 68, splunk 5)
  • rundll32.exe corpus 126 (elastic 100, splunk 26)
  • wscript.exe corpus 83 (elastic 82, splunk 1)
  • wsl.exe corpus 4 (elastic 4)
field:"process_name" kind:wildcard
process.parent.namewildcard
  • ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe
field:"parent_process_name" kind:wildcard value:"ConfigurationRemotingServer.exe"