Detection rules › Splunk
SyncAppvPublishingServer Execution (Windows Event Log)
Microsoft binary used by App-v to get App-v server lists. This tool can be used to execute powershell commands without invoking powershell
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Stealth | T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body yaml
id: '7826.9433'
title: SyncAppvPublishingServer Execution
description: 'Microsoft binary used by App-v to get App-v server lists. This tool
can be used to execute powershell commands without invoking powershell. Living Off
the Land Binary and Scripts (LOLBAS) (LOLBIN) -- Threat Actor Association: APT28
(Fancy Bear, Tsar Team), TA576'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_winevent` (TERM(EventCode=4688) OR
"<EventID>4688<" OR Type=Process) ("SyncAppvPublishingServer.exe" OR "SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs")
| table _time, host, user process, process_*, signature_id, parent_* | bin span=1s
| stats values(*) as * by _time, host '
techniques:
- defense-evasion:system binary proxy execution
technique_id:
- T1218
data_category:
- Windows event logs
references:
- https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Syncappvpublishingserver/
- https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/code-execution/powershell-without-powershell
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_winevent` (TERM(EventCode=4688) OR "<EventID>4688<" OR Type=Process) ("SyncAppvPublishingServer.exe" OR "SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs")
Stage 2: table
| table _time, host, user process, process_*, signature_id, parent_*
Stage 3: bucket
| bin span=1s
Stage 4: 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.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
EventCode | eq |
|
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>4688<" |
| 1 | "SyncAppvPublishingServer.exe" |
| 1 | "SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs" |