Detection: Windows InstallUtil in Non Standard Path

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of InstallUtil.exe from non-standard paths. It leverages Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) data, focusing on process names and original file names outside typical directories. This activity is significant because InstallUtil.exe is often used by attackers to execute malicious code or scripts. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow an attacker to bypass security controls, execute arbitrary code, and potentially gain unauthorized access or persist within the environment.

Search

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_installutil` NOT (Processes.process_path IN ("*\\Windows\\ADWS\\*","*\\Windows\\SysWOW64*", "*\\Windows\\system32*", "*\\Windows\\NetworkController\\*", "*\\Windows\\SystemApps\\*", "*\\WinSxS\\*", "*\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\*")) by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.original_file_name Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id Processes.process_hash 
3| `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `windows_installutil_in_non_standard_path_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

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

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

False positives may be present and filtering may be required. Certain utilities will run from non-standard paths based on the third-party application in use.

Associated Analytic Story

• Data Destruction

• Living Off The Land

• Masquerading - Rename System Utilities

• Ransomware

• Signed Binary Proxy Execution InstallUtil

• Unusual Processes

• WhisperGate

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1036.003/T1036.003.yaml

• https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1036/003/

• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/01/15/destructive-malware-targeting-ukrainian-organizations/

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1218.004/T1218.004.md

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: 4