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.

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` min(_time) as _time from datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Lsa\\DSRMAdminLogonBehavior" Registry.registry_value_data IN ("*1","*2") by Registry.action Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_value_data Registry.registry_value_type Registry.process_guid Registry.dest Registry.user 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` 
4| join type=outer process_guid [
5| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes by Processes.user Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.dest Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_guid 
6| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`] 
7| table _time action dest user parent_process_name parent_process process_name process process_guid registry_path registry_value_data registry_value_type 
8| `windows_ad_dsrm_account_changes_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source Supported App
Sysmon EventID 1 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' N/A

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_summariesonly summariesonly=summariesonly_config allow_old_summaries=oldsummaries_config fillnull_value=fillnull_config``
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

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1098 Account Manipulation Persistence
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT3
APT41
APT5
Dragonfly
FIN13
HAFNIUM
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
Magic Hound

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

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 Risk Score Impact Confidence
DSRM Account Changes Initiated on $dest$ by $user$ 100 100 100
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

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: 3