Detection: Windows Gather Victim Host Information Camera

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: e4df4676-ea41-4397-b160-3ee0140dc332 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects a PowerShell script that enumerates camera devices on the targeted host. This detection leverages PowerShell Script Block Logging, specifically looking for commands querying Win32_PnPEntity for camera-related information. This activity is significant as it is commonly observed in DCRat malware, which collects camera data to send to its command-and-control server. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could indicate an attempt to gather sensitive visual information from the host, potentially leading to privacy breaches or further exploitation.

Search

 1`powershell` EventCode=4104 ScriptBlockText= "* Win32_PnPEntity *" ScriptBlockText= "*SELECT*" ScriptBlockText= "*WHERE*" ScriptBlockText = "*PNPClass*" ScriptBlockText IN ("*Image*", "*Camera*")
 2  
 3| fillnull
 4  
 5| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
 6    BY dest signature signature_id
 7       user_id vendor_product EventID
 8       Guid Opcode Name
 9       Path ProcessID ScriptBlockId
10       ScriptBlockText
11  
12| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
13  
14| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
15  
16| `windows_gather_victim_host_information_camera_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Powershell Script Block Logging 4104	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational'`

Macros Used

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

windows_gather_victim_host_information_camera_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
T1592.001	Hardware	Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance

DE.AE

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 Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

Anomaly detections generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events). They do not generate a Finding (Notable) directly.

Implementation

To successfully implement this analytic, you will need to enable PowerShell Script Block Logging on some or all endpoints. Additional setup here https://help.splunk.com/en/security-offerings/splunk-user-behavior-analytics/get-data-in/5.4.1/add-other-data-to-splunk-uba/configure-powershell-logging-to-see-powershell-anomalies-in-splunk-uba.

Known False Positives

Administrators may execute this powershell command to get hardware information related to camera on $dest$.

Associated Analytic Story

DarkCrystal RAT

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
A Powershell script to enumerate camera detected on host - $dest$	dest	system	20
A Powershell script to enumerate camera detected on host - $dest$	user_id	user	20

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/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: 13