Detection: Github Commit In Develop

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: Detection deprecated as it no longer effectively identifies the intended malicious activity

Removed in version: 5.4.0

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: f3030cb6-0b02-11ec-8f22-acde48001122 Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk Type: Anomaly Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects commits pushed directly to the 'develop' or 'main' branches in a GitHub repository. It leverages GitHub logs, focusing on commit metadata such as author details, commit messages, and timestamps. This activity is significant as direct commits to these branches can bypass the review process, potentially introducing unvetted changes. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized code modifications, introducing vulnerabilities or backdoors into the codebase, and compromising the integrity of the development lifecycle.

Search

1`github` branches{}.name = main OR branches{}.name = develop 
2|  stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime  by commit.author.html_url commit.commit.author.email commit.author.login commit.commit.message repository.pushed_at commit.commit.committer.date 
3| eval phase="code" 
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
6| `github_commit_in_develop_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
GitHub Webhooks	AWS	`'aws:firehose:json'`	`'github'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
github	`sourcetype=aws:firehose:json`
github_commit_in_develop_filter	``

github_commit_in_develop_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
T1199

Default Configuration

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

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`N/A`
Earliest Time	`N/A`
Latest Time	`N/A`
Schedule Window	`N/A`
Creates Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

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

Implementation

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs related to github logs having the fork, commit, push metadata that can be use to monitor the changes in a github project.

Known False Positives

admin can do changes directly to develop branch

Associated Analytic Story

Dev Sec Ops

References

https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/getting-github-data-with-webhooks.html

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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: 5