Detection: Domain Group Discovery With Dsquery

Updated Date: 2024-05-22 ID: f0c9d62f-a232-4edd-b17e-bc409fb133d4 Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies the execution of dsquery.exe with command-line arguments used to query for domain groups. It leverages Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) data, focusing on process names and command-line arguments. This activity is significant because both Red Teams and adversaries use dsquery.exe to enumerate domain groups, gaining situational awareness and facilitating further Active Directory discovery. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to map out the domain structure, identify high-value targets, and plan subsequent attacks, potentially leading to privilege escalation or data exfiltration.

1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name="dsquery.exe") (Processes.process="*group*") by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id 
3| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `domain_group_discovery_with_dsquery_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source Supported App
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2 N/A 'crowdstrike:events:sensor' 'crowdstrike' N/A

Macros Used

Name Value
security_content_ctime convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)
domain_group_discovery_with_dsquery_filter search *
domain_group_discovery_with_dsquery_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
T1069 Permission Groups Discovery Discovery
T1069.002 Domain Groups Discovery
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
NistCategory.DE_AE
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT3
APT41
FIN13
TA505
Dragonfly
FIN7
Inception
Ke3chang
LAPSUS$
OilRig
ToddyCat
Turla
Volt Typhoon

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

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

Administrators or power users may use this command for troubleshooting.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
Domain group discovery enumeration on $dest$ by $user$ 15 30 50
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