Detection rules › Splunk
Shortcut Created in Startup Folder - Windows (PowerShell)
Adversaries may achieve persistence by adding a program to a startup folder. These programs will be executed under the context of the user and will have the account's associated permissions level. This use case detects shortcut creation commands referencing the default startup folder location
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1547.001 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder |
| Privilege Escalation | T1547.001 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
Rule body yaml
id: '19934.35266'
title: Shortcut Created in Startup Folder - Windows
description: 'Adversaries may achieve persistence by adding a program to a startup
folder. These programs will be executed under the context of the user and will have
the account''s associated permissions level. This use case detects shortcut creation
commands referencing the default startup folder location. -- Threat Actor Association:
APT28 (aka.Fancy Bear, Fighting Ursa, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, TA422, STRONTIUM)
- Software Association: DarkGate -- Atomics T1547.001 Test #7'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR
"<EventID>4104<") ((("New-Item" OR TERM(ni) OR TERM(New-Object)) (TERM(SymbolicLink)
OR TERM(hardlink))) OR TERM(mklink) OR ".lnk") "Startup" | regex process="(?i)Programs\SStartup\S+\.lnk"
| table _time, host, user, process, process_*, parent_process* | bin span=1s | stats
values(*) as * by _time, host '
techniques:
- persistence:boot or logon autostart execution:registry run keys / startup folder
- privilege-escalation:boot or logon autostart execution:registry run keys / startup
folder
technique_id:
- T1547.001
data_category:
- PowerShell logs
references:
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1547.001/T1547.001.md#atomic-test-7---add-executable-shortcut-link-to-user-startup-folder
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` (TERM(EventCode=4104) OR "<EventID>4104<") ((("New-Item" OR TERM(ni) OR TERM(New-Object)) (TERM(SymbolicLink) OR TERM(hardlink))) OR TERM(mklink) OR ".lnk") "Startup"
Stage 2: regex
| regex process="(?i)Programs\SStartup\S+\.lnk"
Stage 3: table
| table _time, host, user, process, process_*, parent_process*
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>4104<" |
| 1 | "New-Item" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | ni |
| 1 | "New-Object" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | SymbolicLink |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | hardlink |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | mklink |
| 1 | ".lnk" |
| 1 | "Startup" |