Detection rules › Sigma

Suspicious Child Process Of Wermgr.EXE

Status
test
Severity
high
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects suspicious Windows Error Reporting manager (wermgr.exe) child process

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Privilege EscalationT1055 Process Injection
StealthT1036 Masquerading, T1055 Process Injection

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

title: Suspicious Child Process Of Wermgr.EXE
id: 396f6630-f3ac-44e3-bfc8-1b161bc00c4e
related:
    - id: 5394fcc7-aeb2-43b5-9a09-cac9fc5edcd5
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects suspicious Windows Error Reporting manager (wermgr.exe) child process
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/j/black-basta-infiltrates-networks-via-qakbot-brute-ratel-and-coba.html
    - https://www.echotrail.io/insights/search/wermgr.exe
    - https://github.com/binderlabs/DirCreate2System
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-10-14
modified: 2024-08-29
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1055
    - attack.t1036
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ParentImage|endswith: '\wermgr.exe'
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\cscript.exe'
            - '\ipconfig.exe'
            - '\mshta.exe'
            - '\net.exe'
            - '\net1.exe'
            - '\netstat.exe'
            - '\nslookup.exe'
            - '\powershell_ise.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
            - '\pwsh.exe'
            - '\regsvr32.exe'
            - '\rundll32.exe'
            - '\systeminfo.exe'
            - '\whoami.exe'
            - '\wscript.exe'
    filter_main_rundll32:
        Image|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'C:\Windows\system32\WerConCpl.dll'
            - 'LaunchErcApp '
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '-queuereporting'
            - '-responsepester'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\wermgr.exe'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\cmd.exe'
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\ipconfig.exe'
        - '\mshta.exe'
        - '\net.exe'
        - '\net1.exe'
        - '\netstat.exe'
        - '\nslookup.exe'
        - '\powershell_ise.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\regsvr32.exe'
        - '\rundll32.exe'
        - '\systeminfo.exe'
        - '\whoami.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'

Stage 2: not filter_main_rundll32

filter_main_rundll32:
    Image|endswith: '\rundll32.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'C:\Windows\system32\WerConCpl.dll'
        - 'LaunchErcApp '
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '-queuereporting'
        - '-responsepester'

Exclusions

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

FieldKindExcluded values
CommandLinematch-queuereporting
CommandLinematch-responsepester
CommandLinematchC:\Windows\system32\WerConCpl.dll
CommandLinematchLaunchErcApp
Imageends_with\rundll32.exe

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.

FieldKindValues
Imageends_with
  • \cmd.exe corpus 130 (sigma 130)
  • \cscript.exe corpus 73 (sigma 73)
  • \ipconfig.exe corpus 5 (sigma 5)
  • \mshta.exe corpus 67 (sigma 67)
  • \net.exe corpus 49 (sigma 49)
  • \net1.exe corpus 47 (sigma 47)
  • \netstat.exe corpus 5 (sigma 5)
  • \nslookup.exe corpus 5 (sigma 5)
  • \powershell.exe corpus 182 (sigma 182)
  • \powershell_ise.exe corpus 41 (sigma 41)
  • \pwsh.exe corpus 168 (sigma 168)
  • \regsvr32.exe corpus 65 (sigma 65)
  • \rundll32.exe corpus 95 (sigma 95)
  • \systeminfo.exe corpus 11 (sigma 11)
  • \whoami.exe corpus 19 (sigma 19)
  • \wscript.exe corpus 75 (sigma 75)
ParentImageends_with
  • \wermgr.exe corpus 2 (sigma 2)