Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Service Started (PowerShell)
Adversaries may abuse the Windows service control manager to execute malicious commands or payloads
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1569.002 System Services: Service Execution |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| PowerShell | Event ID 4104 | Creating Scriptblock text (MessageNumber of MessageTotal). |
Rule body yaml
id: '5703.5976'
title: Windows Service Started
description: 'Adversaries may abuse the Windows service control manager to execute
malicious commands or payloads. - Threat Actor Association: APT28 (aka.Fancy Bear,
Fighting Ursa, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, TA422, STRONTIUM), APT29/Nobelium/Cozy
Bear, Blackbyte, Carbanak, Earth Estries, Magic Hound (aka APT35, Charming Kitten,
Phosphorus, and Mint Sandstorm) - Software Association: Ryuk, Snatch, WannaCry -
Atomics T1569.002 Test#1 Atomics T1543.003 Test#1'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` TERM(EventCode=4104) (TERM(sc)
OR TERM(sc.exe) OR TERM(net) OR TERM(net.exe) OR TERM(net1.exe)) AND TERM(start)
|regex process="(?i)(sc|net|net1)(\.exe)?\s+start\s"| table _time, host, user, signature_id,
process, process_* | bin span=1s | stats values(*) as * by _time, host '
techniques:
- execution:system services:service execution
technique_id:
- T1569.002
data_category:
- PowerShell logs
- Process command-line parameters
references: null
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_powershell` TERM(EventCode=4104) (TERM(sc) OR TERM(sc.exe) OR TERM(net) OR TERM(net.exe) OR TERM(net1.exe)) AND TERM(start)
Stage 2: regex
| regex process="(?i)(sc|net|net1)(\.exe)?\s+start\s"
Stage 3: table
| table _time, host, user, signature_id, process, 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 | TERM |
| 1 | sc |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | sc.exe |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | net |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | net.exe |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | net1.exe |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | start |