Detection rules › Splunk

Create_Modify Schtasks (PowerShell)

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

Detects possible persistent backdoor access using schtasks -- Threat Group Association: Actinium/Gamaredon/Primitive Bear, Alloy Taurus/Gallium, APT29/Nobelium/Cozy Bear, APT31, APT33, APT34/OilRig, APT35/Phosphorus/Magic Hound, APT41, APT43, BlackByte, BlackCat, Blind Eagle/APT-C-36, Evilnum, FIN7, FIN12, Gamaredon Group/Shuckworm, GoldenJackal, Lazarus, Memento Team, MuddyWater, Redfly, TA428, Turla (akaSecret Blizzard, KRYPTON, and UAC-0003), Vice Society, WinterVivern/UAC-0114, WIRTE, Witchetty

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

References

Telemetry coverage

Rule body

id: '1071.1109'
title: Create_Modify Schtasks
description: 'Detects possible persistent backdoor access using schtasks -- Threat
  Group Association: Actinium/Gamaredon/Primitive Bear, Alloy Taurus/Gallium, APT29/Nobelium/Cozy
  Bear, APT31, APT33, APT34/OilRig, APT35/Phosphorus/Magic Hound, APT41, APT43, BlackByte,
  BlackCat, Blind Eagle/APT-C-36, Evilnum, FIN7, FIN12, Gamaredon Group/Shuckworm,
  GoldenJackal, Lazarus, Memento Team, MuddyWater, Redfly, TA428, Turla (akaSecret
  Blizzard, KRYPTON, and UAC-0003), Vice Society, WinterVivern/UAC-0114, WIRTE, Witchetty
  - Software Association: Blackbyte, Black Basta, BianLian, Cactus, Conti, GoMet,
  HermeticWiper/Trojan.Killdisk, Lockbit, Lorenz, LV, NanoCore, Play, Prestige, Prometheus/Spook,
  Rhysida, Trickbot, XingLocker - Atomics T1036.004 Test #1 Atomics T1053.005 Test#1
  Atomics T1053.005 Test#2 Atomics T1053.005 Test#3 Atomics T1053.005 Test#4 - #TrendingThreat
  #Russia #Ukraine'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR
  TERM(EventCode=4103)) AND (("schtasks" AND ("/create" OR "/change")) OR (TERM(Schedule.Service)
  "GetFolder") OR "New-ScheduledTask")| rex field=process mode=sed max_match=0 "s/(?mi)^(Path.+)|^(ScriptBlock
  ID.+)|^(Creating Scriptblock.+)//g"| rex field=process mode=sed "s/([\n\r]+)|(\s\s+)//g"|
  rex field=process max_match=0 (?<schtask>"(?i)(schtasks\s+\/(create|change)|Schedule.Service.{1,20})")|
  rex field=process max_match=0 (?<user>"(?i)/ru.+")| rex field=user mode=sed max_match=0
  "s/(?i)^(\/ru )//g"| table _time, host, user _time, host, process, user, signature_id,
  schtask| bin span=300s | stats values(*) as * by _time, host `hec_collect`'
techniques:
- execution:scheduled task/job:scheduled task
- persistence:scheduled task/job:scheduled task
technique_id:
- T1053.005
data_category:
- PowerShell logs
- Process command-line parameters
references:
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/005/

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR TERM(EventCode=4103)) AND (("schtasks" AND ("/create" OR "/change")) OR (TERM(Schedule.Service) "GetFolder") OR "New-ScheduledTask")

Stage 2: rex

| rex field=process mode=sed max_match=0 "s/(?mi)^(Path.+)|^(ScriptBlock ID.+)|^(Creating Scriptblock.+)//g"

The parser skipped this rex command.

Stage 3: rex

| rex field=process mode=sed "s/([\n\r]+)|(\s\s+)//g"

The parser skipped this rex command.

Stage 4: rex

| rex field=process max_match=0 (?<schtask>"(?i)(schtasks\s+\/(create|change)|Schedule.Service.{1,20})")

Stage 5: rex

| rex field=process max_match=0 (?<user>"(?i)/ru.+")

Stage 6: rex

| rex field=user mode=sed max_match=0 "s/(?i)^(\/ru )//g"

The parser skipped this rex command.

Stage 7: table

| table _time, host, user _time, host, process, user, signature_id, schtask

Stage 8: bucket

| bin span=300s

Stage 9: stats

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

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

FieldKindValuesSearch
EventCodeeq
  • 4103 corpus 105 (splunk 105)
  • 4104 corpus 269 (splunk 269)
field:"EventID" kind:eq

Search terms

These SPL tokens match against raw event text.

StageTerm
1"schtasks"
1"/create"
1"/change"
1Schedule.Service
1"GetFolder"
1"New-ScheduledTask"