Possible CVE-2021-1675 Print Spooler Exploitation

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, service printservice-admin
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), KevTheHermit, fuzzyf10w, Tim Shelton
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects events of driver load errors in print service logs that could be a sign of successful exploitation attempts of print spooler vulnerability CVE-2021-1675

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1569` System Services

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
PrintService	Event ID 808	The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module PluginDllName, error code ErrorCode.

Rule body yaml

title: Possible CVE-2021-1675 Print Spooler Exploitation
id: 4e64668a-4da1-49f5-a8df-9e2d5b866718
status: test
description: Detects events of driver load errors in print service logs that could be a sign of successful exploitation attempts of print spooler vulnerability CVE-2021-1675
references:
    - https://web.archive.org/web/20210629055600/https://github.com/hhlxf/PrintNightmare/
    - https://web.archive.org/web/20210701042336/https://github.com/afwu/PrintNightmare
    - https://twitter.com/fuzzyf10w/status/1410202370835898371
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), KevTheHermit, fuzzyf10w, Tim Shelton
date: 2021-06-30
modified: 2022-11-15
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1569
    - cve.2021-1675
    - detection.emerging-threats
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: printservice-admin
detection:
    selection:
        EventID: 808
        ErrorCode:
            - '0x45A'
            - '0x7e'
    keywords:
        - 'The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module'
        # default file names used in PoC codes
        - 'MyExploit.dll'
        - 'evil.dll'
        - '\addCube.dll'
        - '\rev.dll'
        - '\rev2.dll'
        - '\main64.dll'
        - '\mimilib.dll'
        - '\mimispool.dll'
    falsepositive:
        - ' registration timed out' # ex: The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module PrintConfig registration timed out
    condition: (selection or keywords) and not falsepositive
falsepositives:
    - Problems with printer drivers
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

(selection or keywords) and not falsepositive

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    EventID: 808
    ErrorCode:
        - '0x45A'
        - '0x7e'

Stage 2: `keywords`

keywords:
    - 'The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module'
    - 'MyExploit.dll'
    - 'evil.dll'
    - '\addCube.dll'
    - '\rev.dll'
    - '\rev2.dll'
    - '\main64.dll'
    - '\mimilib.dll'
    - '\mimispool.dll'

Stage 3: `not falsepositive`

falsepositive:
    - ' registration timed out'

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
`ErrorCode`	eq	`0x45A` corpus 2 (sigma 1, splunk 1) `0x7e`

`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)

Possible CVE-2021-1675 Print Spooler Exploitation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `keywords`

Stage 3: `not falsepositive`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Possible CVE-2021-1675 Print Spooler Exploitation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Stage 2: keywords

Stage 3: not falsepositive

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `keywords`

Stage 3: `not falsepositive`