Detection: Path traversal SPL injection

Updated Date: 2024-05-26 ID: dfe55688-82ed-4d24-a21b-ed8f0e0fda99 Author: Rod Soto, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies attempts at path traversal in search parameters, which can lead to SPL injection. It detects this activity by searching for specific patterns in the _internal index that indicate path traversal attempts (e.g., "../../../../"). This activity is significant for a SOC because it can allow an attacker to manipulate the application to load data from incorrect endpoints, potentially running arbitrary SPL queries. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized data access, code execution, or further exploitation of the Splunk environment.

Search

1 `path_traversal_spl_injection` 
2| search "\/..\/..\/..\/..\/..\/..\/..\/..\/..\/"  
3| stats count by host status clientip method uri_path uri_query 
4| `path_traversal_spl_injection_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source	Supported App
Splunk	Splunk	`'splunkd_ui_access'`	`'splunkd_ui_access.log'`	N/A

Macros Used

Name	Value
path_traversal_spl_injection	`index=_internal sourcetype=splunkd_ui_access`
path_traversal_spl_injection_filter	`search *`

path_traversal_spl_injection_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
T1083	File and Directory Discovery	Discovery

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

NistCategory.DE_CM

Cis18Value.CIS_10

APT18

APT28

APT3

APT32

APT38

APT39

APT41

APT5

Aoqin Dragon

BRONZE BUTLER

Chimera

Confucius

Dark Caracal

Darkhotel

Dragonfly

FIN13

Fox Kitten

Gamaredon Group

HAFNIUM

Inception

Ke3chang

Kimsuky

Lazarus Group

Leafminer

LuminousMoth

Magic Hound

MuddyWater

Mustang Panda

Patchwork

Sandworm Team

Scattered Spider

Sidewinder

Sowbug

TeamTNT

ToddyCat

Tropic Trooper

Turla

Windigo

Winnti Group

admin@338

menuPass

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

This detection does not require you to ingest any new data. The detection does require the ability to search the _internal index. This search will provide search UI requests with path traversal parameter ("../../../../../../../../../") which shows exploitation attempts. This detection is meant for on premise environments, and if executed on internet facing servers without a WAF may produce a lot of results. This detection will not work against obfuscated path traversal requests.

Known False Positives

This search may find additional path traversal exploitation attempts.

Associated Analytic Story

Splunk Vulnerabilities

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
Path traversal exploitation attempt from $clientip$	40	50	80

The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

https://www.splunk.com/en_us/product-security/announcements/svd-2022-0506.html

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`splunkd_ui_access.log`	`splunkd_ui_access`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`splunkd_ui_access.log`	`splunkd_ui_access`

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