Forest Blizzard APT - File Creation Activity

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category file_event
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the creation of specific files inside of ProgramData directory. These files were seen being created by Forest Blizzard as described by MSFT.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Defense Impairment	`T1685.001` Disable or Modify Tools: Disable or Modify Windows Event Log

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 11	FileCreate

Rule body yaml

title: Forest Blizzard APT - File Creation Activity
id: b92d1d19-f5c9-4ed6-bbd5-7476709dc389
status: test
description: |
    Detects the creation of specific files inside of ProgramData directory.
    These files were seen being created by Forest Blizzard as described by MSFT.
references:
    - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/04/22/analyzing-forest-blizzards-custom-post-compromise-tool-for-exploiting-cve-2022-38028-to-obtain-credentials/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2024-04-23
modified: 2024-07-11
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685.001
    - detection.emerging-threats
logsource:
    category: file_event
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_programdata_driver_store:
        TargetFilename|startswith:
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Adobe\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Comms\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Intel\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Kaspersky Lab\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Bitdefender\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\ESET\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\UbiSoft\v'
            - 'C:\ProgramData\Steam\v'
        TargetFilename|contains:
            - '\prnms003.inf_'
            - '\prnms009.inf_'
    selection_programdata_main:
        TargetFilename|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\'
    selection_programdata_files_1:
        TargetFilename|endswith:
            - '.save'
            - '\doit.bat'
            - '\execute.bat'
            - '\servtask.bat'
        # Hashes|contains: '7d51e5cc51c43da5deae5fbc2dce9b85c0656c465bb25ab6bd063a503c1806a9' # Uncommon this if you collect hash information inf file events
    selection_programdata_files_2:
        TargetFilename|contains: '\wayzgoose'
        TargetFilename|endswith: '.dll'
    condition: selection_programdata_driver_store or (selection_programdata_main and 1 of selection_programdata_files_*)
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection_programdata_driver_store or (selection_programdata_main and 1 of selection_programdata_files_*)

Stage 1: `selection_programdata_driver_store`

selection_programdata_driver_store:
    TargetFilename|startswith:
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Adobe\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Comms\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Intel\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Kaspersky Lab\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Bitdefender\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\ESET\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\UbiSoft\v'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\Steam\v'
    TargetFilename|contains:
        - '\prnms003.inf_'
        - '\prnms009.inf_'

Stage 2: `selection_programdata_main`

selection_programdata_main:
    TargetFilename|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\'

Stage 3: `selection_programdata_files_1`

selection_programdata_files_1:
    TargetFilename|endswith:
        - '.save'
        - '\doit.bat'
        - '\execute.bat'
        - '\servtask.bat'

Stage 4: `selection_programdata_files_2`

selection_programdata_files_2:
    TargetFilename|contains: '\wayzgoose'
    TargetFilename|endswith: '.dll'

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
`TargetFilename`	ends_with	`.dll` corpus 23 (sigma 23) `.save` `\doit.bat` `\execute.bat` `\servtask.bat`
`TargetFilename`	match	`\prnms003.inf_` `\prnms009.inf_` `\wayzgoose`
`TargetFilename`	starts_with	`C:\ProgramData\` `C:\ProgramData\Adobe\v` `C:\ProgramData\Bitdefender\v` `C:\ProgramData\Comms\v` `C:\ProgramData\ESET\v` `C:\ProgramData\Intel\v` `C:\ProgramData\Kaspersky Lab\v` `C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\v` `C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA\v` `C:\ProgramData\Steam\v` `C:\ProgramData\UbiSoft\v`

`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)

Forest Blizzard APT - File Creation Activity

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_programdata_driver_store`

Stage 2: `selection_programdata_main`

Stage 3: `selection_programdata_files_1`

Stage 4: `selection_programdata_files_2`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Forest Blizzard APT - File Creation Activity

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_programdata_driver_store

Stage 2: selection_programdata_main

Stage 3: selection_programdata_files_1

Stage 4: selection_programdata_files_2

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_programdata_driver_store`

Stage 2: `selection_programdata_main`

Stage 3: `selection_programdata_files_1`

Stage 4: `selection_programdata_files_2`