Detection: MSI Module Loaded by Non-System Binary

Updated Date: 2024-10-17 ID: ccb98a66-5851-11ec-b91c-acde48001122 Author: Michael Haag, Splunk Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the loading of msi.dll by a binary not located in system32, syswow64, winsxs, or windows directories. This is identified using Sysmon EventCode 7, which logs DLL loads, and filters out legitimate system paths. This activity is significant as it may indicate exploitation of CVE-2021-41379 or DLL side-loading attacks, both of which can lead to unauthorized system modifications. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or persist within the environment.

Search

1`sysmon` EventCode=7 ImageLoaded="*\\msi.dll" NOT (Image IN ("*\\System32\\*","*\\syswow64\\*","*\\windows\\*", "*\\winsxs\\*")) 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by Image ImageLoaded process_name dest EventCode ProcessId 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `msi_module_loaded_by_non_system_binary_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Sysmon EventID 7	Windows	`'xmlwineventlog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`

Macros Used

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

msi_module_loaded_by_non_system_binary_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
T1574.002	DLL Side-Loading	Defense Evasion
T1574	Hijack Execution Flow	Persistence

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION

NistCategory.DE_AE

Cis18Value.CIS_10

APT19

APT3

APT32

APT41

BRONZE BUTLER

BlackTech

Chimera

Cinnamon Tempest

Daggerfly

Earth Lusca

FIN13

GALLIUM

Higaisa

Lazarus Group

LuminousMoth

MuddyWater

Mustang Panda

Naikon

Patchwork

SideCopy

Sidewinder

Threat Group-3390

Tropic Trooper

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 and imageloaded 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

It is possible some Administrative utilities will load msi.dll outside of normal system paths, filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
The following module $ImageLoaded$ was loaded by $Image$ outside of the normal system paths on endpoint $dest$, potentally related to DLL side-loading.	56	80	70

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