Detection rules › Kusto

Silk Typhoon New UM Service Child Process

Severity
medium
Time window
14d
Group by
NewProcessName
Author
Microsoft Security Research
Source
github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query looks for new processes being spawned by the Exchange UM service where that process has not previously been observed before. Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/03/02/hafnium-targeting-exchange-servers/

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Initial Access

Telemetry coverage

Rule body

id: 95a15f39-d9cc-4667-8cdd-58f3113691c9
name: Silk Typhoon New UM Service Child Process
description: |
  'This query looks for new processes being spawned by the Exchange UM service where that process has not previously been observed before. 
  Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/03/02/hafnium-targeting-exchange-servers/'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent 
  - connectorId: WindowsForwardedEvents
    dataTypes: 
      - WindowsEvent 
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 14d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - InitialAccess
relevantTechniques:
  - T1190
query: |
  let lookback = 14d;
  let timeframe = 1d;
  (union isfuzzy=true
  (SecurityEvent
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
  | where EventID == 4688
  | where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | join kind=rightanti (
  SecurityEvent
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
  | where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | where EventID == 4688) on NewProcessName
  ),
  (WindowsEvent
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
  | where EventID == 4688 and EventData has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | extend ParentProcessName = tostring(EventData.ParentProcessName)
  | where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | extend NewProcessName = tostring(EventData.NewProcessName)
  | extend Account = strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
  | extend IpAddress = tostring(EventData.IpAddress)
  | join kind=rightanti (
  WindowsEvent
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
  | where EventID == 4688  and EventData has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | extend ParentProcessName = tostring(EventData.ParentProcessName)
  | where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
  | extend NewProcessName = tostring(EventData.NewProcessName)
  | extend Account = strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
  | extend IpAddress = tostring(EventData.IpAddress)) on NewProcessName
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
  | extend SubjectUserName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), SubjectDomainName = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName)
  | project-away DomainIndex
  ))  
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: SubjectAccount
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: SubjectUserName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: SubjectDomainName
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Computer
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: HostNameDomain
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: IpAddress
version: 1.1.6
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Threat Intelligence" ]

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let lookback = 14d;
let timeframe = 1d;

union isfuzzy=true (2 sources)

Each leg below queries one source; the rule matches if any leg does. Sources: SecurityEvent, WindowsEvent

Leg 1: SecurityEvent

SecurityEvent
| where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
| where EventID == 4688
| where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| join kind=rightanti (
SecurityEvent
| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
| where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| where EventID == 4688) on NewProcessName

Leg 2: WindowsEvent

WindowsEvent
| where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
| where EventID == 4688 and EventData has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| extend ParentProcessName = tostring(EventData.ParentProcessName)
| where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| extend NewProcessName = tostring(EventData.NewProcessName)
| extend Account = strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
| extend IpAddress = tostring(EventData.IpAddress)
| join kind=rightanti (
WindowsEvent
| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
| where EventID == 4688  and EventData has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| extend ParentProcessName = tostring(EventData.ParentProcessName)
| where ParentProcessName has_any ("umworkerprocess.exe", "UMService.exe")
| extend NewProcessName = tostring(EventData.NewProcessName)
| extend Account = strcat(tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName),"\\", tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName))
| extend IpAddress = tostring(EventData.IpAddress)) on NewProcessName
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| extend SubjectUserName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), SubjectDomainName = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName)
| project-away DomainIndex

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

FieldKindValuesSearch
EventDatamatch
  • UMService.exe transforms: term
  • umworkerprocess.exe transforms: term
field:"EventData" kind:match
EventIDeq
  • 4688 corpus 317 (splunk 283, kusto 33, elastic 1)
field:"EventID" kind:eq value:"4688"
ParentProcessNamematch
  • UMService.exe transforms: term
  • umworkerprocess.exe transforms: term
field:"ParentImage" kind:match

Output fields

These fields are emitted when the rule matches.

FieldSource
ParentProcessNameextend
NewProcessNameextend
Accountextend
IpAddressextend
HostNameextend
HostNameDomainextend
SubjectDomainNameextend
SubjectUserNameextend