Detection: Detect Computer Changed with Anonymous Account

EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION

This detection status is set to experimental. The Splunk Threat Research team has not yet fully tested, simulated, or built comprehensive datasets for this detection. As such, this analytic is not officially supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2024-10-17 ID: 1400624a-d42d-484d-8843-e6753e6e3645 Author: Rod Soto, Jose Hernandez, Splunk Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects changes to computer accounts using an anonymous logon. It leverages Windows Security Event Codes 4742 (Computer Change) and 4624 (Successful Logon) with the TargetUserName set to "ANONYMOUS LOGON" and LogonType 3. This activity is significant because anonymous logons should not typically be modifying computer accounts, indicating potential unauthorized access or misconfiguration. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to alter computer accounts, potentially leading to privilege escalation or persistent access within the network.

1`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4624 OR EventCode=4742 TargetUserName="ANONYMOUS LOGON" LogonType=3 
2| stats count values(host) as host, values(TargetDomainName) as Domain, values(user) as user 
3| `detect_computer_changed_with_anonymous_account_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Windows Event Log Security 4624 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Security'
Windows Event Log Security 4742 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Security'

Macros Used

Name Value
wineventlog_security eventtype=wineventlog_security OR Channel=security OR source=XmlWinEventLog:Security
detect_computer_changed_with_anonymous_account_filter search *
detect_computer_changed_with_anonymous_account_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
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
NistCategory.DE_AE
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT28
Dragonfly
Earth Lusca
Ember Bear
FIN7
Fox Kitten
MuddyWater
Threat Group-3390
Tonto Team
Wizard Spider
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 Risk Event False
This configuration file applies to all detections of type hunting.

Implementation

This search requires audit computer account management to be enabled on the system in order to generate Event ID 4742. We strongly recommend that you specify your environment-specific configurations (index, source, sourcetype, etc.) for Windows Event Logs. Replace the macro definition with configurations for your Splunk environment. The search also uses a post-filter macro designed to filter out known false positives.

Known False Positives

None thus far found

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
The following $EventCode$ occurred on $dest$ by $user$ with Logon Type 3, which may be indicative of the an account or group being changed by an anonymous account. 49 70 70
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 Not Applicable N/A N/A N/A
Unit ❌ Failing N/A N/A N/A
Integration ❌ Failing N/A N/A N/A

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: 4