Detection rules › Splunk
Remote WMIC Query (PowerShell)
An adversary can use WMI to interact with local and remote systems and use it as a means to execute various behaviors, such as gathering information for Discovery as well as remote Execution of files as part of Lateral Movement. This use case detects execution of WMIC commands with the '/node' switch, indicating potential remote operations or information gathering attempts on network endpoints
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1047 Windows Management Instrumentation |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| PowerShell | Event ID 4103 | Payload Context: ContextInfo User Data: UserData. |
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
Rule body yaml
id: '20368.36103'
title: Remote WMIC Query
description: 'An adversary can use WMI to interact with local and remote systems and
use it as a means to execute various behaviors, such as gathering information for
Discovery as well as remote Execution of files as part of Lateral Movement. This
use case detects execution of WMIC commands with the ''/node'' switch, indicating
potential remote operations or information gathering attempts on network endpoints.
-- Threat Actor Association: Earth Estries, Flax Typhoon'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4103) OR
"<EventID>4103<" OR TERM(EventCode=4104) OR "<EventID>4104<") (TERM(wmic) OR "wmic.exe")
OR "/node:" | regex process="(?i)/node:" | table _time, host, user process, process_*,
parent_* | bin span=1s | stats values(*) as * by _time, host '
techniques:
- execution:windows management instrumentation
technique_id:
- T1047
data_category:
- PowerShell logs
- Process command-line parameters
references:
- https://thedfirreport.com/2023/06/12/a-truly-graceful-wipe-out/
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4103) OR "<EventID>4103<" OR TERM(EventCode=4104) OR "<EventID>4104<") (TERM(wmic) OR "wmic.exe") OR "/node:"
Stage 2: regex
| regex process="(?i)/node:"
Stage 3: table
| table _time, host, user process, process_*, parent_*
Stage 4: bucket
| bin span=1s
Stage 5: stats
| stats values(*) as * by _time, host
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.
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.
| Stage | Term |
|---|---|
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | "<EventID>4103<" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | "<EventID>4104<" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | wmic |
| 1 | "wmic.exe" |
| 1 | "/node:" |