Detection: Single Letter Process On Endpoint

Updated Date: 2024-12-10 ID: a4214f0b-e01c-41bc-8cc4-d2b71e3056b4 Author: David Dorsey, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects processes with names consisting of a single letter, which is often indicative of malware or an attacker attempting to evade detection. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions. This activity is significant because attackers use such techniques to obscure their presence and carry out malicious activities like data theft or ransomware attacks. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or system compromise. Immediate investigation is required to determine the legitimacy of the process.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes by Processes.dest, Processes.user, Processes.process, Processes.process_name 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
6| eval process_name_length = len(process_name), endExe = if(substr(process_name, -4) == ".exe", 1, 0) 
7| search process_name_length=5 AND endExe=1 
8| table count, firstTime, lastTime, dest, user, process, process_name 
9| `single_letter_process_on_endpoint_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

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
single_letter_process_on_endpoint_filter	`search *`

single_letter_process_on_endpoint_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
T1204	User Execution	Execution
T1204.002	Malicious File	Execution

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

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

Single-letter executables are not always malicious. Investigate this activity with your normal incident-response process.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

A suspicious process $process_name$ with single letter on host $dest$

Risk Object	Risk Object Type	Risk Score	Threat Objects
user	user	63	No Threat Objects
dest	system	63	No Threat Objects

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: 7