Detection: Ivanti VTM New Account Creation

Updated Date: 2025-01-21 ID: b04be6e5-2002-4349-8742-52285635b8f5 Author: Michael Haag, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

This analytic detects potential exploitation of the Ivanti Virtual Traffic Manager (vTM) authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-7593) to create new administrator accounts. The vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass authentication on the admin panel and create new admin users. This detection looks for suspicious new account creation events in the Ivanti vTM audit logs that lack expected authentication details, which may indicate exploitation attempts.

1`ivanti_vtm_audit` OPERATION="adduser" MODGROUP="admin" IP="!!ABSENT!!" 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by IP, MODUSER, OPERATION, MODGROUP, AUTH 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `ivanti_vtm_new_account_creation_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Ivanti VTM Audit N/A 'ivanti_vtm_audit' 'ivanti_vtm'

Macros Used

Name Value
ivanti_vtm_audit sourcetype=ivanti_vtm_audit
ivanti_vtm_new_account_creation_filter search *
ivanti_vtm_new_account_creation_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Delivery
DE.CM
CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting Value
Disabled true
Cron Schedule 0 * * * *
Earliest Time -70m@m
Latest Time -10m@m
Schedule Window auto
Creates Notable Yes
Rule Title %name%
Rule Description %description%
Notable Event Fields user, dest
Creates Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

To implement this detection, ensure that Ivanti vTM audit logs are being ingested into Splunk. Configure the Ivanti vTM to send its audit logs to Splunk via syslog or by monitoring the log files directly. The sourcetype should be set to "ivanti_vtm_audit" or a similar custom sourcetype for these logs.

Known False Positives

Legitimate new account creation by authorized administrators will generate similar log entries. However, those should include proper authentication details. Verify any detected events against expected administrative activities and authorized user lists.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

A new administrator account, $MODUSER$, was created on Ivanti vTM device without proper authentication, which may indicate exploitation of CVE-2024-7593.

Risk Object Risk Object Type Risk Score Threat Objects
MODUSER user 72 No Threat Objects

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation ✅ Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit ✅ Passing Dataset ivanti_vtm ivanti_vtm_audit
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset ivanti_vtm ivanti_vtm_audit

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 3