Detection: Mshta spawning Rundll32 OR Regsvr32 Process

Updated Date: 2024-09-30 ID: 4aa5d062-e893-11eb-9eb2-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects a suspicious mshta.exe process spawning rundll32 or regsvr32 child processes. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process GUID, process name, and parent process fields. This activity is significant as it is a known technique used by malware like Trickbot to load malicious DLLs and execute payloads. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or download additional malware, posing a severe threat to the environment.

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name = "mshta.exe"  `process_rundll32` OR `process_regsvr32` by  Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.user Processes.dest 
3| `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5|`security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `mshta_spawning_rundll32_or_regsvr32_process_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2 N/A 'crowdstrike:events:sensor' 'crowdstrike'
Sysmon EventID 1 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'
Windows Event Log Security 4688 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Security'

Macros Used

Name Value
process_regsvr32 (Processes.process_name=regsvr32.exe OR Processes.original_file_name=REGSVR32.EXE)
mshta_spawning_rundll32_or_regsvr32_process_filter search *
mshta_spawning_rundll32_or_regsvr32_process_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
T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution Defense Evasion
T1218.005 Mshta Defense Evasion
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
Lazarus Group
Volt Typhoon
APT29
APT32
Confucius
Earth Lusca
FIN7
Gamaredon Group
Inception
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
LazyScripter
MuddyWater
Mustang Panda
SideCopy
Sidewinder
TA2541
TA551

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

limitted. this anomaly behavior is not commonly seen in clean host.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
a mshta parent process $parent_process_name$ spawn child process $process_name$ in host $dest$ 56 70 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

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: 4