Persistence and Execution at Scale via GPO Scheduled Task

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, service security
Author: Samir Bousseaden
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detect lateral movement using GPO scheduled task, usually used to deploy ransomware at scale

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1053.005` Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task
Persistence	`T1053.005` Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task
Privilege Escalation	`T1053.005` Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Security-Auditing	Event ID 5136	A directory service object was modified.
Security-Auditing	Event ID 5145	A network share object was checked to see whether client can be granted desired access.

Rule body yaml

title: Persistence and Execution at Scale via GPO Scheduled Task
id: a8f29a7b-b137-4446-80a0-b804272f3da2
status: test
description: Detect lateral movement using GPO scheduled task, usually used to deploy ransomware at scale
references:
    - https://twitter.com/menasec1/status/1106899890377052160
    - https://www.secureworks.com/blog/ransomware-as-a-distraction
    - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/7.17/prebuilt-rule-0-16-1-scheduled-task-execution-at-scale-via-gpo.html
author: Samir Bousseaden
date: 2019-04-03
modified: 2024-09-04
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.execution
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.lateral-movement
    - attack.t1053.005
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: security
    definition: 'The advanced audit policy setting "Object Access > Audit Detailed File Share" must be configured for Success/Failure'
detection:
    selection_5136:
        EventID: 5136
        AttributeLDAPDisplayName:
            - 'gPCMachineExtensionNames'
            - 'gPCUserExtensionNames'
        AttributeValue|contains:
            - 'CAB54552-DEEA-4691-817E-ED4A4D1AFC72'
            - 'AADCED64-746C-4633-A97C-D61349046527'
    selection_5145:
        EventID: 5145
        ShareName|endswith: '\SYSVOL' # looking for the string \\*\SYSVOL
        RelativeTargetName|endswith: 'ScheduledTasks.xml'
        AccessList|contains:
            - 'WriteData'
            - '%%4417'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - If the source IP is not localhost then it's super suspicious, better to monitor both local and remote changes to GPO scheduled tasks.
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_*

Stage 1: `selection_5136`

selection_5136:
    EventID: 5136
    AttributeLDAPDisplayName:
        - 'gPCMachineExtensionNames'
        - 'gPCUserExtensionNames'
    AttributeValue|contains:
        - 'CAB54552-DEEA-4691-817E-ED4A4D1AFC72'
        - 'AADCED64-746C-4633-A97C-D61349046527'

Stage 2: `selection_5145`

selection_5145:
    EventID: 5145
    ShareName|endswith: '\SYSVOL'
    RelativeTargetName|endswith: 'ScheduledTasks.xml'
    AccessList|contains:
        - 'WriteData'
        - '%%4417'

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
`AccessList`	match	`%%4417` corpus 11 (sigma 8, elastic 2, splunk 1) `WriteData` corpus 4 (sigma 4)
`AttributeLDAPDisplayName`	eq	`gPCMachineExtensionNames` corpus 7 (sigma 3, elastic 3, splunk 1) `gPCUserExtensionNames` corpus 4 (sigma 2, elastic 2)
`AttributeValue`	match	`AADCED64-746C-4633-A97C-D61349046527` corpus 2 (sigma 1, elastic 1) `CAB54552-DEEA-4691-817E-ED4A4D1AFC72` corpus 2 (sigma 1, elastic 1)
`RelativeTargetName`	ends_with	`ScheduledTasks.xml` corpus 2 (sigma 1, elastic 1)
`ShareName`	ends_with	`\SYSVOL` corpus 2 (sigma 2)

`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)

Persistence and Execution at Scale via GPO Scheduled Task

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_5136`

Stage 2: `selection_5145`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Persistence and Execution at Scale via GPO Scheduled Task

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_5136

Stage 2: selection_5145

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_5136`

Stage 2: `selection_5145`