Detection rules › Splunk

Common Active Directory Commands (Sysmon)

Group by
_time, host
Source
github.com/anvilogic-forge/armory

Detects the possible execution of specific AD commands on hosts

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

References

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation

Rule body yaml

id: '1073.1111'
title: Common Active Directory Commands
description: 'Detects the possible execution of specific AD commands on hosts. Threat
  Actor Association: APT29/Nobelium/Cozy Bear, APT41, FIN6, FIN10, Carbanak, CL-STA-0043,
  Lapsus$, Lazarus, MuddyWater, Sandworm Team, TA428, Turla, UNC2596, Vice Society,
  Volt Typhoon (Bronze Silhouette, Vanguard Panda), Witchetty, Wizard Spider Software
  Association: Akira, ALPHV/BlackCat, AvosLocker, Bazarloader, BianLian, Black Basta,
  Clop, Conti, Cuba, Havex, IcedID, Insekt, Lockbit, Revil, Ryuk, Snatch, WASTEDLOCKER
  Tags: TrendingThreat, Russia, Ukraine'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_sysmon` EventCode=1 (TERM("csvde.exe")
  OR TERM("dsacls.exe") OR TERM("dcpromo.exe") OR TERM("dcdiag.exe") OR TERM("dsamain.exe")
  OR TERM("dsmgmt.exe") OR TERM("ldifde.exe") OR TERM("ldp.exe") OR TERM("netdom.exe")
  OR TERM("nltest.exe") OR TERM("setspn.exe") OR (TERM("net") AND ("/domain" OR TERM("computer")))
  OR "whoami /groups") | regex process="csvde.exe|dsacls.exe|dcpromo.exe|dcdiag.exe|dsamain.exe|dsmgmt.exe|ldifde.exe|ldp.exe|netdom.exe|nltest.exe|setspn.exe|net.+(\/domain|computer)|whoami
  \/groups" | table _time, host, user, dvc, event_id, host, parent_process parent_process_exec
  parent_process_id, process, process_current_directory, process_exec, process_id,
  process_hash, process_path, signature_id, tag, user_id | bin span=600s | stats values(*)
  as * by _time, host | streamstats c(process) as c_process by host | where c_process>2 '
techniques:
- discovery:account discovery:domain account
- discovery:system service discovery
technique_id:
- T1087.002
- T1007
data_category:
- Windows Sysmon
references:
- https://www.pwc.co.uk/cyber-security/pdf/cloud-hopper-annex-b-final.pdf

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_sysmon` EventCode=1 (TERM("csvde.exe") OR TERM("dsacls.exe") OR TERM("dcpromo.exe") OR TERM("dcdiag.exe") OR TERM("dsamain.exe") OR TERM("dsmgmt.exe") OR TERM("ldifde.exe") OR TERM("ldp.exe") OR TERM("netdom.exe") OR TERM("nltest.exe") OR TERM("setspn.exe") OR (TERM("net") AND ("/domain" OR TERM("computer"))) OR "whoami /groups")

Stage 2: regex

| regex process="csvde.exe|dsacls.exe|dcpromo.exe|dcdiag.exe|dsamain.exe|dsmgmt.exe|ldifde.exe|ldp.exe|netdom.exe|nltest.exe|setspn.exe|net.+(\/domain|computer)|whoami \/groups"

Stage 3: table

| table _time, host, user, dvc, event_id, host, parent_process parent_process_exec parent_process_id, process, process_current_directory, process_exec, process_id, process_hash, process_path, signature_id, tag, user_id

Stage 4: bucket

| bin span=600s

Stage 5: stats

| stats values(*) as * by _time, host

Stage 6: streamstats

| streamstats c(process) as c_process by host

Stage 7: where

| where c_process>2

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.

FieldKindValues
EventCodeeq
  • 1 corpus 237 (splunk 224, kusto 13)
c_processgt
  • 2
processregex_match
    • "csvde.exe
    • dsacls.exe
    • dcpromo.exe
    • dcdiag.exe
    • dsamain.exe
    • dsmgmt.exe
    • ldifde.exe
    • ldp.exe
    • netdom.exe
    • nltest.exe
    • setspn.exe
    • net.+(\/domain|computer)
    • whoami \/groups"

Search terms

Bare-string tokens in the SPL search body. Splunk matches each token against _raw (the untyped raw event text) anywhere it appears, not against a specific field. These don't surface in the Indicators table because they aren't predicates on a known field.

StageTerm
1"csvde.exe"
1"dsacls.exe"
1"dcpromo.exe"
1"dcdiag.exe"
1"dsamain.exe"
1"dsmgmt.exe"
1"ldifde.exe"
1"ldp.exe"
1"netdom.exe"
1"nltest.exe"
1"setspn.exe"
1"net"
1"/domain"
1"computer"
1"whoami /groups"