SeDebugPrivilege Enabled by a Suspicious Process

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2022/10/20"
 3integration = ["windows", "system"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5updated_date = "2024/05/21"
 6
 7[rule]
 8author = ["Elastic"]
 9description = """
10Identifies the creation of a process running as SYSTEM and impersonating a Windows core binary privileges. Adversaries
11may create a new process with a different token to escalate privileges and bypass access controls.
12"""
13from = "now-9m"
14index = ["winlogbeat-*", "logs-windows.*", "logs-system.security*"]
15language = "eql"
16license = "Elastic License v2"
17name = "SeDebugPrivilege Enabled by a Suspicious Process"
18references = [
19    "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4703",
20    "https://blog.palantir.com/windows-privilege-abuse-auditing-detection-and-defense-3078a403d74e",
21]
22risk_score = 47
23rule_id = "97020e61-e591-4191-8a3b-2861a2b887cd"
24setup = """## Setup
25
26Windows Event 4703 logs Token Privileges changes and need to be configured (Enable).
27
28Steps to implement the logging policy with Advanced Audit Configuration:

 1"""
 2severity = "medium"
 3tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Privilege Escalation"]
 4timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
 5type = "eql"
 6
 7query = '''
 8any where host.os.type == "windows" and event.provider: "Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing" and
 9 event.action : "Token Right Adjusted Events" and
10
11 winlog.event_data.EnabledPrivilegeList : "SeDebugPrivilege" and
12
13 /* exclude processes with System Integrity  */
14 not winlog.event_data.SubjectUserSid : ("S-1-5-18", "S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20") and
15
16 not winlog.event_data.ProcessName :
17         ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
18          "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msiexec.exe",
19          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\lsass.exe",
20          "?:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\*",
21          "?:\\Program Files\\*",
22          "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*",
23          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\MRT.exe",
24          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\cleanmgr.exe",
25          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\taskhostw.exe",
26          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe",
27          "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\*-*\\DismHost.exe",
28          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\auditpol.exe",
29          "?:\\Windows\\System32\\wbem\\WmiPrvSe.exe",
30          "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wbem\\WmiPrvSe.exe")
31'''
32
33
34[[rule.threat]]
35framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
36[[rule.threat.technique]]
37id = "T1134"
38name = "Access Token Manipulation"
39reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1134/"
40
41
42[rule.threat.tactic]
43id = "TA0004"
44name = "Privilege Escalation"
45reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/"