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Detection rules › Kusto

Match Legitimate Name or Location - 2

Status
available
Severity
medium
Time window
1h
Source
github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Attackers often match or approximate the name or location of legitimate files to avoid detection rules that are based trust of on certain operating system processes. This query detects mismatches in the parent-child relationship of core operating system processes to uncover different masquerading attempts.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
StealthT1036.005 Masquerading: Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location

Event coverage

ProviderEvent/ActionTypeTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation
Security-AuditingEvent ID 4688A new process has been created.
Defender-DeviceProcessEventsanyProcess activity (any)

Rule body kusto

id: dd22dc4f-ab7c-4d0a-84ad-cc393638ba31
name: Match Legitimate Name or Location - 2
description: |
  Attackers often match or approximate the name or location of legitimate files to avoid detection rules that are based trust of on certain operating system processes.
  This query detects mismatches in the parent-child relationship of core operating system processes to uncover different masquerading attempts.
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
    dataTypes:
      - DeviceProcessEvents
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
  - T1036.005
query: |
  let ProcessRelations=datatable(ImageFile:string,ExpectedParent:dynamic) [
    "smss.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe", "ntoskrnl.exe", ""]),
    "crmss.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
    "wininit.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
    "winlogon.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
    "services.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
    "lsaiso.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
    "lsass.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
    "spoolsv.exe", dynamic(["services.exe"]),
    "dllhost.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe", "services.exe"]),
    "lsm.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
    "svchost.exe", dynamic(["services.exe", "msmpeng.exe"]),
    "runtimebroker.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe"]),
    "taskhostw.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe"]),
    "userinit.exe", dynamic(["winlogon.exe"])
    // Explorer can have a lot of parents in some environments
    //,"explorer.exe", dynamic(["userinit.exe"])
  ];
  DeviceProcessEvents
  | extend ImageFile = tostring(tolower(parse_path(tostring(FolderPath)).Filename))
  | extend ParentFile = tostring(tolower(parse_path(tostring(InitiatingProcessFolderPath)).Filename))
  | lookup kind=inner ProcessRelations on ImageFile
  | where not(set_has_element(ExpectedParent,ParentFile))
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: DeviceName
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Sid
        columnName: AccountSid 
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: AccountDomain
  - entityType: Process
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: CommandLine
        columnName: ProcessCommandLine
version: 1.0.1
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: ProcessRelations

let ProcessRelations = datatable(ImageFile:string,ExpectedParent:dynamic) [
  "smss.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe", "ntoskrnl.exe", ""]),
  "crmss.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
  "wininit.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
  "winlogon.exe", dynamic(["smss.exe"]),
  "services.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
  "lsaiso.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
  "lsass.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
  "spoolsv.exe", dynamic(["services.exe"]),
  "dllhost.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe", "services.exe"]),
  "lsm.exe", dynamic(["wininit.exe"]),
  "svchost.exe", dynamic(["services.exe", "msmpeng.exe"]),
  "runtimebroker.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe"]),
  "taskhostw.exe", dynamic(["svchost.exe"]),
  "userinit.exe", dynamic(["winlogon.exe"])
];

Stage 1: source

DeviceProcessEvents

Stage 2: extend

| extend ImageFile = tostring(tolower(parse_path(tostring(FolderPath)).Filename))

Stage 3: extend

| extend ParentFile = tostring(tolower(parse_path(tostring(InitiatingProcessFolderPath)).Filename))

Stage 4: kusto:lookup

| lookup kind=inner ProcessRelations on ImageFile

Stage 5: where

| where not(set_has_element(ExpectedParent,ParentFile))

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

FieldKindExcluded values
ParentFileeqExpectedParent

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

FieldSource
ImageFileextend
ParentFileextend