Sdelete deployed via GPO and run recursively (ASIM Version)

Severity: medium
Time window: 1d
Group by: ActingProcessId, ParentProcessId
Author: Microsoft Security Research
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query looks for the Sdelete process being run recursively after being deployed to a host via GPO. Attackers could use this technique to deploy Sdelete to multiple host and delete data on them. This query uses the Advanced Security Information Model. Parsers will need to be deployed before use: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/sentinel/normalization

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1485` Data Destruction

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation
Sysmon	Event ID 5	Process terminated
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688	A new process has been created.
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4689	A process has exited.

Rule body kusto

id: 30c8b802-ace1-4408-bc29-4c5c5afb49e1
name: Sdelete deployed via GPO and run recursively (ASIM Version)
description: |
  'This query looks for the Sdelete process being run recursively after being deployed to a host via GPO. Attackers could use this technique to deploy Sdelete to multiple host and delete data on them.
    This query uses the Advanced Security Information Model. Parsers will need to be deployed before use: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/sentinel/normalization'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors: []
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Impact
relevantTechniques:
  - T1485
tags:
  -
query: |
  _Im_ProcessEvent
  | where EventType =~ "ProcessCreated"
  | where Process endswith "svchost.exe"
  | where CommandLine has "-k GPSvcGroup" or CommandLine has "-s gpsvc"
  | extend timekey = bin(TimeGenerated, 1m)
  | project timekey, ActingProcessId, Dvc
  | join kind=inner (
    _Im_ProcessEvent
    | where EventType =~ "ProcessCreated"
    | where Process =~ "sdelete.exe" or CommandLine has "sdelete"
    | where ActingProcessName endswith "svchost.exe"
    | where CommandLine has_all ("-s", "-r")
    | extend timekey = bin(TimeGenerated, 1m)
    ) 
    on $left.ActingProcessId == $right.ParentProcessId, timekey, Dvc
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[0])
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(Dvc, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Dvc, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Dvc, DomainIndex + 1), Dvc)
  | project-away DomainIndex
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: ActorUsername
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: AccountNTDomain
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Dvc
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: DnsDomain
        columnName: HostNameDomain
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: DvcIpAddr
version: 1.0.6
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Threat Protection" ]

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

_Im_ProcessEvent

Stage 2: `where`

| where EventType =~ "ProcessCreated"

Stage 3: `where`

| where Process endswith "svchost.exe"

Stage 4: `where`

| where CommandLine has "-k GPSvcGroup" or CommandLine has "-s gpsvc"

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend timekey = bin(TimeGenerated, 1m)

Stage 6: `project`

| project timekey, ActingProcessId, Dvc

Stage 7: `join`

| join kind=inner (
  _Im_ProcessEvent
  | where EventType =~ "ProcessCreated"
  | where Process =~ "sdelete.exe" or CommandLine has "sdelete"
  | where ActingProcessName endswith "svchost.exe"
  | where CommandLine has_all ("-s", "-r")
  | extend timekey = bin(TimeGenerated, 1m)
  ) 
  on $left.ActingProcessId == $right.ParentProcessId, timekey, Dvc

Stage 8: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

| extend AccountName = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(ActorUsername, @'\')[0])
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Dvc, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Dvc, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Dvc, DomainIndex + 1), Dvc)

Stage 9: `project-away`

| project-away DomainIndex

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
`ActingProcessName`	ends_with	`svchost.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`-k GPSvcGroup` transforms: `term` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `-r` corpus 13 (sigma 9, kusto 4) `-s` corpus 10 (sigma 4, kusto 4, elastic 1, splunk 1) `-s gpsvc` transforms: `term` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `sdelete` transforms: `term` corpus 2 (kusto 2)
`EventType`	eq	`ProcessCreated` corpus 10 (kusto 10)
`Process`	ends_with	`svchost.exe`
`Process`	eq	`sdelete.exe` corpus 2 (kusto 2)

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.

Field	Source
`ActingProcessId`	`project`
`Dvc`	`project`
`timekey`	`project`
`AccountNTDomain`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`
`HostNameDomain`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Sdelete deployed via GPO and run recursively (ASIM Version)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `project`

Stage 7: `join`

Stage 8: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 9: `project-away`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Sdelete deployed via GPO and run recursively (ASIM Version)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: project

Stage 7: join

Stage 8: extend (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 9: project-away

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `project`

Stage 7: `join`

Stage 8: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 9: `project-away`