Detection rules › Sigma
CobaltStrike Service Installations - Security
Detects known malicious service installs that appear in cases in which a Cobalt Strike beacon elevates privileges or lateral movement
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1569.002 System Services: Service Execution |
| Persistence | T1543.003 Create or Modify System Process: Windows Service |
| Privilege Escalation | T1543.003 Create or Modify System Process: Windows Service |
| Lateral Movement | T1021.002 Remote Services: SMB/Windows Admin Shares |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4697 | A service was installed in the system. |
Rule body yaml
title: CobaltStrike Service Installations - Security
id: d7a95147-145f-4678-b85d-d1ff4a3bb3f6
related:
- id: 5a105d34-05fc-401e-8553-272b45c1522d
type: derived
status: test
description: Detects known malicious service installs that appear in cases in which a Cobalt Strike beacon elevates privileges or lateral movement
references:
- https://www.sans.org/webcasts/119395
- https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/getting-the-bacon-from-cobalt-strike-beacon/
- https://thedfirreport.com/2021/08/29/cobalt-strike-a-defenders-guide/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Wojciech Lesicki
date: 2021-05-26
modified: 2022-11-27
tags:
- attack.persistence
- attack.execution
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.lateral-movement
- attack.t1021.002
- attack.t1543.003
- attack.t1569.002
logsource:
product: windows
service: security
definition: The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697
detection:
event_id:
EventID: 4697
selection1:
ServiceFileName|contains|all:
- 'ADMIN$'
- '.exe'
selection2:
ServiceFileName|contains|all:
- '%COMSPEC%'
- 'start'
- 'powershell'
selection3:
ServiceFileName|contains: 'powershell -nop -w hidden -encodedcommand'
selection4:
ServiceFileName|base64offset|contains: "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('http://127.0.0.1:"
condition: event_id and 1 of selection*
falsepositives:
- Unknown
level: high
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
event_id and 1 of selection*Stage 1: event_id
event_id:
EventID: 4697
Stage 2: selection1
selection1:
ServiceFileName|contains|all:
- 'ADMIN$'
- '.exe'
Stage 3: selection2
selection2:
ServiceFileName|contains|all:
- '%COMSPEC%'
- 'start'
- 'powershell'
Stage 4: selection3
selection3:
ServiceFileName|contains: 'powershell -nop -w hidden -encodedcommand'
Stage 5: selection4
selection4:
ServiceFileName|base64offset|contains: "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('http://127.0.0.1:"
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 |
|---|---|---|
ServiceFileName | match |
|