Detection: Windows Sqlservr Spawning Shell

Description

This analytic detects instances where the sqlservr.exe process spawns a command shell (cmd.exe) or PowerShell process. This behavior is often indicative of command execution initiated from within the SQL Server process, potentially due to exploitation of SQL injection vulnerabilities or the use of extended stored procedures like xp_cmdshell.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name="sqlservr.exe" `process_cmd` OR `process_powershell` by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `windows_sqlservr_spawning_shell_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
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

To implement this detection, you need to be ingesting endpoint data that captures process creation events, specifically the parent-child process relationships. Ensure that you are collecting Sysmon Event ID 1 or Windows Event Log Security 4688 events. The data should be mapped to the Endpoint data model in Splunk.

Known False Positives

Legitimate administrative activities or monitoring tools might occasionally spawn command shells from sqlservr.exe. Review the process command-line arguments and consider filtering out known legitimate processes or users.

Associated Analytic Story

• SQL Server Abuse

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message:

A command shell was spawned by sqlservr.exe on host $dest$ by user $user$. This may indicate unauthorized command execution.

References

• https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1505/001/

• https://github.com/MHaggis/notes/tree/master/utilities/SQLSSTT

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: 2