ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1098 | Account Manipulation | Persistence |
Detection: Windows AD DSRM Account Changes
Description
The following analytic identifies changes to the Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) account behavior via registry modifications. It detects alterations in the registry path "*\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\DSRMAdminLogonBehavior" with specific values indicating potential misuse. This activity is significant because the DSRM account, if misconfigured, can be exploited to persist within a domain, similar to a local administrator account. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain persistent administrative access to a Domain Controller, leading to potential domain-wide compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Search
1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Lsa\\DSRMAdminLogonBehavior" Registry.registry_value_data IN ("*1","*2") by Registry.action Registry.dest Registry.process_guid Registry.process_id Registry.registry_hive Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_type Registry.status Registry.user Registry.vendor_product
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
6| `windows_ad_dsrm_account_changes_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Sysmon EventID 12 | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' |
|
Sysmon EventID 13 | 'xmlwineventlog' |
'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
windows_ad_dsrm_account_changes_filter | search * |
windows_ad_dsrm_account_changes_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
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 |
Implementation
The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes
node of the Endpoint
data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.
Known False Positives
Disaster recovery events.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message:
DSRM Account Changes Initiated on $dest$ by $user$
Risk Object | Risk Object Type | Risk Score | Threat Objects |
---|---|---|---|
user | user | 100 | No Threat Objects |
dest | system | 100 | No Threat Objects |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
XmlWinEventLog |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational |
XmlWinEventLog |
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: 6