Detection rules › Splunk
Cisco IOS XE WebUI Programmatic Configuration
This analytic detects Cisco IOS-XE configuration changes performed by the WebUI WSMA process.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Initial Access | T1078 Valid Accounts, T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application |
| Persistence | T1078 Valid Accounts |
| Privilege Escalation | T1078 Valid Accounts |
| Stealth | T1078 Valid Accounts |
Rule body splunk
name: Cisco IOS XE WebUI Programmatic Configuration
id: f9686576-a23d-4c4d-bfad-a45499dc448a
version: 1
creation_date: '2026-05-19'
modification_date: '2026-05-19'
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: |
This analytic detects Cisco IOS-XE configuration changes performed by the WebUI WSMA process.
data_source:
- Cisco IOS Logs
search: |-
`cisco_ios`
facility="SYS"
mnemonic="CONFIG_P"
message_text="*Configured programmatically by process SEP_webui_wsma_http*"
| rex field=_raw "process\s(?<process>\S+)\sfrom.*as\s(?<user>\S+)\son\s(?<vty>\S+)"
| eval dest=coalesce(host, dvc, dest, "unknown")
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
values(process) as process
values(vty) as vty
by dest user
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `cisco_ios_xe_webui_programmatic_configuration_filter`
how_to_implement: |
Use the Cisco Catalyst Add-on for Splunk (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7538) to Ingest Cisco IOS-XE syslog with sourcetype "cisco:ios".
Enable WebUI activity logging by IOS-XE.
known_false_positives: |
No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
- https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa25-239a
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/salt-typhoon-analysis/
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
entities:
- field: user
type: user
score: 20
message: User $user$ performed Cisco IOS-XE WebUI programmatic configuration on $dest$.
analytic_story:
- Salt Typhoon
asset_type: Network
mitre_attack_id:
- T1190
- T1078
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: application
security_domain: network
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/emerging_threats/SaltTyphoon/salttyphoon_cisco.log
source: ctb:catalyst:syslog
sourcetype: cisco:ios
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`cisco_ios`
facility="SYS"
mnemonic="CONFIG_P"
message_text="*Configured programmatically by process SEP_webui_wsma_http*"
Stage 2: rex
| rex field=_raw "process\s(?<process>\S+)\sfrom.*as\s(?<user>\S+)\son\s(?<vty>\S+)"
Stage 3: eval
| eval dest=coalesce(host, dvc, dest, "unknown")
Stage 4: stats
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
values(process) as process
values(vty) as vty
by dest user
Stage 5: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 6: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 7: search
| `cisco_ios_xe_webui_programmatic_configuration_filter`
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 |
|---|---|---|
facility | eq |
|
message_text | eq |
|
mnemonic | eq |
|
sourcetype | eq |
|