Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Vulnerable 3CX Software
The following analytic detects instances of the 3CXDesktopApp.exe with a FileVersion of 18.12.x, leveraging Sysmon logs. This detection focuses on identifying vulnerable versions 18.12.407 and 18.12.416 of the 3CX desktop app. Monitoring this activity is crucial as these specific versions have known vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. If confirmed malicious, exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access, code execution, or further compromise of the affected system, posing significant security risks.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Initial Access | T1195.002 Supply Chain Compromise: Compromise Software Supply Chain |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
Rule body splunk
name: Windows Vulnerable 3CX Software
id: f2cc1584-46ee-485b-b905-977c067f36de
version: 11
creation_date: '2023-03-30'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Michael Haag, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects instances of the 3CXDesktopApp.exe with a FileVersion of 18.12.x, leveraging Sysmon logs. This detection focuses on identifying vulnerable versions 18.12.407 and 18.12.416 of the 3CX desktop app. Monitoring this activity is crucial as these specific versions have known vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. If confirmed malicious, exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access, code execution, or further compromise of the affected system, posing significant security risks.
data_source:
- Sysmon EventID 1
search: |-
`sysmon` (process_name=3CXDesktopApp.exe OR OriginalFileName=3CXDesktopApp.exe) FileVersion=18.12.*
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
BY action dest original_file_name
parent_process parent_process_exec parent_process_guid
parent_process_id parent_process_name parent_process_path
process process_exec process_guid
process_hash process_id process_integrity_level
process_name process_path user
user_id vendor_product
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_vulnerable_3cx_software_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, parent process, and command-line executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: False positives may be present based on file version, modify the analytic to only look for version between 18.12.407 and 18.12.416 as needed.
references:
- https://www.sentinelone.com/blog/smoothoperator-ongoing-campaign-trojanizes-3cx-software-in-software-supply-chain-attack/
- https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2023/03/30/supply-chain-attack-against-3cxdesktopapp
- https://www.reddit.com/r/crowdstrike/comments/125r3uu/20230329_situational_awareness_crowdstrike/
- https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/crowdstrike-endpoint-security-detection-re-3cx-desktop-app.119934/page-2#post-558898
- https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/3cx-desktopapp-security-alert.119951/
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
finding:
title: A known vulnerable instance of 3CX Software $process_name$ ran on $dest$, related to a supply chain attack.
entity:
field: dest
type: system
score: 50
threat_objects:
- field: process_name
type: process_name
analytic_story:
- 3CX Supply Chain Attack
asset_type: Endpoint
cve:
- CVE-2023-29059
mitre_attack_id:
- T1195.002
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1195.002/3CX/3cx_windows-sysmon.log
source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`sysmon` (process_name=3CXDesktopApp.exe OR OriginalFileName=3CXDesktopApp.exe) FileVersion=18.12.*
Stage 2: stats
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
BY action dest original_file_name
parent_process parent_process_exec parent_process_guid
parent_process_id parent_process_name parent_process_path
process process_exec process_guid
process_hash process_id process_integrity_level
process_name process_path user
user_id vendor_product
Stage 3: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 4: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 5: search
| `windows_vulnerable_3cx_software_filter`
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 |
|---|---|---|
FileVersion | eq |
|
OriginalFileName | eq |
|
process_name | eq |
|