Detection: Drop IcedID License dat

Updated Date: 2024-05-25 ID: b7a045fc-f14a-11eb-8e79-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the dropping of a suspicious file named "license.dat" in %appdata% or %programdata%. This behavior is associated with the IcedID malware, which uses this file to inject its core bot into other processes for banking credential theft. The detection leverages Sysmon EventCode 11 to monitor file creation events in these directories. This activity is significant as it indicates a potential malware infection aiming to steal sensitive banking information. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could gain unauthorized access to financial data, leading to significant financial loss and data breaches.

1`sysmon` EventCode= 11  TargetFilename = "*\\license.dat" AND (TargetFilename="*\\appdata\\*" OR TargetFilename="*\\programdata\\*") 
2|stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by TargetFilename EventCode process_id  process_name dest 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `drop_icedid_license_dat_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source Supported App
Sysmon EventID 11 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($field$)
drop_icedid_license_dat_filter search *
drop_icedid_license_dat_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
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_AE
Cis18Value.CIS_10
LAPSUS$
Scattered Spider
APT-C-36
APT12
APT19
APT28
APT29
APT30
APT32
APT33
APT37
APT38
APT39
Ajax Security Team
Andariel
Aoqin Dragon
BITTER
BRONZE BUTLER
BlackTech
CURIUM
Cobalt Group
Confucius
Dark Caracal
DarkHydrus
Darkhotel
Dragonfly
EXOTIC LILY
Earth Lusca
Elderwood
Ember Bear
FIN4
FIN6
FIN7
FIN8
Ferocious Kitten
Gallmaker
Gamaredon Group
Gorgon Group
HEXANE
Higaisa
Inception
IndigoZebra
Indrik Spider
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
LazyScripter
Leviathan
Machete
Magic Hound
Malteiro
Mofang
Molerats
MuddyWater
Mustang Panda
Naikon
Nomadic Octopus
OilRig
PLATINUM
PROMETHIUM
Patchwork
RTM
Rancor
Sandworm Team
SideCopy
Sidewinder
Silence
TA2541
TA459
TA505
TA551
The White Company
Threat Group-3390
Tonto Team
Transparent Tribe
Tropic Trooper
WIRTE
Whitefly
Windshift
Wizard Spider
admin@338
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

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, parent process, and command-line executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.

Known False Positives

unknown

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
A process $process_name$ created a file $TargetFilename$ on host $dest$ 63 70 90
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