Detection: XMRIG Driver Loaded

Updated Date: 2024-05-06 ID: 90080fa6-a8df-11eb-91e4-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the installation of the XMRIG coinminer driver on a system. It identifies the loading of the WinRing0x64.sys driver, commonly associated with XMRIG, by analyzing Sysmon EventCode 6 logs for specific signatures and image loads. This activity is significant because XMRIG is an open-source CPU miner frequently exploited by adversaries to mine cryptocurrency illicitly. If confirmed malicious, this activity could lead to unauthorized resource consumption, degraded system performance, and potential financial loss due to unauthorized cryptocurrency mining.

1`sysmon` EventCode=6 Signature="Noriyuki MIYAZAKI" OR ImageLoaded= "*\\WinRing0x64.sys" 
2|  stats  min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime count by  dest ImageLoaded Hashes IMPHASH Signature Signed 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `xmrig_driver_loaded_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source Supported App
Sysmon EventID 6 Windows icon Windows 'xmlwineventlog' 'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational' N/A

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_ctime convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)
xmrig_driver_loaded_filter search *
xmrig_driver_loaded_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
T1543.003 Windows Service Persistence
T1543 Create or Modify System Process Privilege Escalation
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT19
APT3
APT32
APT38
APT41
Blue Mockingbird
Carbanak
Cinnamon Tempest
Cobalt Group
DarkVishnya
Earth Lusca
FIN7
Ke3chang
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
PROMETHIUM
TeamTNT
Threat Group-3390
Tropic Trooper
Wizard Spider

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

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the driver loaded and Signature from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.

Known False Positives

False positives should be limited.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
A driver $ImageLoaded$ related to xmrig crytominer loaded in host $dest$ 80 80 100
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: 2