Remote Access Tool Services Have Been Installed - Security

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product windows, service security
Author: Connor Martin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects service installation of different remote access tools software. These software are often abused by threat actors to perform

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

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4697	A service was installed in the system.

Rule body yaml

title: Remote Access Tool Services Have Been Installed - Security
id: c8b00925-926c-47e3-beea-298fd563728e
related:
    - id: 1a31b18a-f00c-4061-9900-f735b96c99fc
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects service installation of different remote access tools software. These software are often abused by threat actors to perform
references:
    - https://redcanary.com/blog/misbehaving-rats/
author: Connor Martin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-12-23
modified: 2024-12-07
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.execution
    - 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:
    selection:
        EventID: 4697
        ServiceName|contains:
            # Based on https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/pull/2841
            - 'AmmyyAdmin' # https://www.ammyy.com/en/
            - 'AnyDesk' # https://usersince99.medium.com/windows-privilege-escalation-8214ceaf4db8
            - 'Atera'
            - 'BASupportExpressSrvcUpdater' # https://www.systemlookup.com/O23/6837-BASupSrvcUpdater_exe.html
            - 'BASupportExpressStandaloneService' # https://www.systemlookup.com/O23/6839-BASupSrvc_exe.html
            - 'chromoting'
            - 'GoToAssist' # https://www.goto.com/it-management/resolve
            - 'GoToMyPC' # https://get.gotomypc.com/
            - 'jumpcloud'
            - 'LMIGuardianSvc' # https://www.logmein.com/
            - 'LogMeIn' # https://www.logmein.com/
            - 'monblanking'
            - 'Parsec'
            - 'RManService' # https://www.systemlookup.com/O23/7855-rutserv_exe.html
            - 'RPCPerformanceService' # https://www.remotepc.com/
            - 'RPCService' # https://www.remotepc.com/
            - 'SplashtopRemoteService' # https://www.splashtop.com/
            - 'SSUService'
            - 'TeamViewer'
            - 'TightVNC' # https://www.tightvnc.com/
            - 'vncserver'
            - 'Zoho'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - The rule doesn't look for anything suspicious so false positives are expected. If you use one of the tools mentioned, comment it out
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    EventID: 4697
    ServiceName|contains:
        - 'AmmyyAdmin'
        - 'AnyDesk'
        - 'Atera'
        - 'BASupportExpressSrvcUpdater'
        - 'BASupportExpressStandaloneService'
        - 'chromoting'
        - 'GoToAssist'
        - 'GoToMyPC'
        - 'jumpcloud'
        - 'LMIGuardianSvc'
        - 'LogMeIn'
        - 'monblanking'
        - 'Parsec'
        - 'RManService'
        - 'RPCPerformanceService'
        - 'RPCService'
        - 'SplashtopRemoteService'
        - 'SSUService'
        - 'TeamViewer'
        - 'TightVNC'
        - 'vncserver'
        - 'Zoho'

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
`ServiceName`	match	`AmmyyAdmin` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `AnyDesk` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Atera` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `BASupportExpressSrvcUpdater` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `BASupportExpressStandaloneService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `GoToAssist` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `GoToMyPC` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `LMIGuardianSvc` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `LogMeIn` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Parsec` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `RManService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `RPCPerformanceService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `RPCService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `SSUService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `SplashtopRemoteService` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `TeamViewer` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `TightVNC` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `Zoho` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `chromoting` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `jumpcloud` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `monblanking` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `vncserver` 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)

Remote Access Tool Services Have Been Installed - Security

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Remote Access Tool Services Have Been Installed - Security

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`