Detection: Verclsid CLSID Execution

Description

The following analytic detects the potential abuse of the verclsid.exe utility to execute malicious files via generated CLSIDs. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific command-line patterns associated with verclsid.exe. This activity is significant because verclsid.exe is a legitimate Windows application used to verify CLSID COM objects, and its misuse can indicate an attempt to bypass security controls. If confirmed malicious, this technique could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, potentially leading to system compromise or further malicious activities.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` values(Processes.process) as process values(Processes.parent_process) as parent_process values(Processes.process_id) as process_id count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_verclsid` AND Processes.process="*/S*" Processes.process="*/C*" AND  Processes.process="*{*" AND Processes.process="*}*" by  Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `verclsid_clsid_execution_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

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

windows can used this application for its normal COM object validation.

Associated Analytic Story

• Unusual Processes

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://gist.github.com/NickTyrer/0598b60112eaafe6d07789f7964290d5

• https://bohops.com/2018/08/18/abusing-the-com-registry-structure-part-2-loading-techniques-for-evasion-and-persistence/

Detection Testing

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