UAC Bypass Attempt via Windows Directory Masquerading

  1[metadata]
  2creation_date = "2020/10/26"
  3integration = ["endpoint", "windows", "system", "m365_defender", "sentinel_one_cloud_funnel", "crowdstrike"]
  4maturity = "production"
  5updated_date = "2024/11/02"
  6min_stack_version = "8.14.0"
  7min_stack_comments = "Breaking change at 8.14.0 for the Windows Integration."
  8
  9[transform]
 10[[transform.osquery]]
 11label = "Osquery - Retrieve DNS Cache"
 12query = "SELECT * FROM dns_cache"
 13
 14[[transform.osquery]]
 15label = "Osquery - Retrieve All Services"
 16query = "SELECT description, display_name, name, path, pid, service_type, start_type, status, user_account FROM services"
 17
 18[[transform.osquery]]
 19label = "Osquery - Retrieve Services Running on User Accounts"
 20query = """
 21SELECT description, display_name, name, path, pid, service_type, start_type, status, user_account FROM services WHERE
 22NOT (user_account LIKE '%LocalSystem' OR user_account LIKE '%LocalService' OR user_account LIKE '%NetworkService' OR
 23user_account == null)
 24"""
 25
 26[[transform.osquery]]
 27label = "Osquery - Retrieve Service Unsigned Executables with Virustotal Link"
 28query = """
 29SELECT concat('https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/', sha1) AS VtLink, name, description, start_type, status, pid,
 30services.path FROM services JOIN authenticode ON services.path = authenticode.path OR services.module_path =
 31authenticode.path JOIN hash ON services.path = hash.path WHERE authenticode.result != 'trusted'
 32"""
 33
 34
 35[rule]
 36author = ["Elastic"]
 37description = """
 38Identifies an attempt to bypass User Account Control (UAC) by masquerading as a Microsoft trusted Windows directory.
 39Attackers may bypass UAC to stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.
 40"""
 41from = "now-9m"
 42index = [
 43    "winlogbeat-*",
 44    "logs-endpoint.events.process-*",
 45    "logs-windows.forwarded*",
 46    "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*",
 47    "endgame-*",
 48    "logs-system.security*",
 49    "logs-m365_defender.event-*",
 50    "logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*",
 51    "logs-crowdstrike.fdr*",
 52]
 53language = "eql"
 54license = "Elastic License v2"
 55name = "UAC Bypass Attempt via Windows Directory Masquerading"
 56note = """## Triage and analysis
 57
 58### Investigating UAC Bypass Attempt via Windows Directory Masquerading
 59
 60Windows User Account Control (UAC) allows a program to elevate its privileges (tracked as low to high integrity levels) to perform a task under administrator-level permissions, possibly by prompting the user for confirmation. UAC can deny an operation under high-integrity enforcement, or allow the user to perform the action if they are in the local administrators group and enter an administrator password when prompted.
 61
 62For more information about the UAC and how it works, check the [official Microsoft docs page](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/user-account-control/how-user-account-control-works).
 63
 64This rule identifies an attempt to bypass User Account Control (UAC) by masquerading as a Microsoft trusted Windows directory. Attackers may bypass UAC to stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.
 65
 66> **Note**:
 67> This investigation guide uses the [Osquery Markdown Plugin](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/master/invest-guide-run-osquery.html) introduced in Elastic Stack version 8.5.0. Older Elastic Stack versions will display unrendered Markdown in this guide.
 68
 69#### Possible investigation steps
 70
 71- Investigate the process execution chain (parent process tree) for unknown processes. Examine their executable files for prevalence, whether they are located in expected locations, and if they are signed with valid digital signatures.
 72- Investigate other alerts associated with the user/host during the past 48 hours.
 73- Inspect the host for suspicious or abnormal behavior in the alert timeframe.
 74- Investigate any abnormal behavior by the subject process such as network connections, registry or file modifications, and any spawned child processes.
 75- Examine the host for derived artifacts that indicate suspicious activities:
 76  - Analyze any suspicious spawned processes using a private sandboxed analysis system.
 77  - Observe and collect information about the following activities in both the sandbox and the alert subject host:
 78    - Attempts to contact external domains and addresses.
 79      - Use the Elastic Defend network events to determine domains and addresses contacted by the subject process by filtering by the process' `process.entity_id`.
 80      - Examine the DNS cache for suspicious or anomalous entries.
 81        - $osquery_0
 82    - Use the Elastic Defend registry events to examine registry keys accessed, modified, or created by the related processes in the process tree.
 83    - Examine the host services for suspicious or anomalous entries.
 84      - $osquery_1
 85      - $osquery_2
 86      - $osquery_3
 87  - Retrieve the files' SHA-256 hash values using the PowerShell `Get-FileHash` cmdlet and search for the existence and reputation of the hashes in resources like VirusTotal, Hybrid-Analysis, CISCO Talos, Any.run, etc.
 88- Investigate potentially compromised accounts. Analysts can do this by searching for login events (for example, 4624) to the target host after the registry modification.
 89
 90### False positive analysis
 91
 92- This activity is unlikely to happen legitimately. Benign true positives (B-TPs) can be added as exceptions if necessary.
 93
 94### Response and remediation
 95
 96- Initiate the incident response process based on the outcome of the triage.
 97- Isolate the involved host to prevent further post-compromise behavior.
 98- If the triage identified malware, search the environment for additional compromised hosts.
 99  - Implement temporary network rules, procedures, and segmentation to contain the malware.
100  - Stop suspicious processes.
101  - Immediately block the identified indicators of compromise (IoCs).
102  - Inspect the affected systems for additional malware backdoors like reverse shells, reverse proxies, or droppers that attackers could use to reinfect the system.
103- Remove and block malicious artifacts identified during triage.
104- Run a full antimalware scan. This may reveal additional artifacts left in the system, persistence mechanisms, and malware components.
105- Investigate credential exposure on systems compromised or used by the attacker to ensure all compromised accounts are identified. Reset passwords for these accounts and other potentially compromised credentials, such as email, business systems, and web services.
106- Determine the initial vector abused by the attacker and take action to prevent reinfection through the same vector.
107- Using the incident response data, update logging and audit policies to improve the mean time to detect (MTTD) and the mean time to respond (MTTR).
108"""
109references = ["https://medium.com/tenable-techblog/uac-bypass-by-mocking-trusted-directories-24a96675f6e"]
110risk_score = 73
111rule_id = "290aca65-e94d-403b-ba0f-62f320e63f51"
112severity = "high"
113tags = [
114    "Domain: Endpoint",
115    "OS: Windows",
116    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
117    "Tactic: Privilege Escalation",
118    "Tactic: Defense Evasion",
119    "Resources: Investigation Guide",
120    "Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
121    "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
122    "Data Source: System",
123    "Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint",
124    "Data Source: Sysmon",
125    "Data Source: SentinelOne",
126    "Data Source: Crowdstrike",
127]
128timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
129type = "eql"
130
131query = '''
132process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
133  process.args : ("C:\\Windows \\system32\\*.exe", "C:\\Windows \\SysWOW64\\*.exe")
134'''
135
136
137[[rule.threat]]
138framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
139[[rule.threat.technique]]
140id = "T1548"
141name = "Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism"
142reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/"
143[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
144id = "T1548.002"
145name = "Bypass User Account Control"
146reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/002/"
147
148
149
150[rule.threat.tactic]
151id = "TA0004"
152name = "Privilege Escalation"
153reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/"
154[[rule.threat]]
155framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
156[[rule.threat.technique]]
157id = "T1036"
158name = "Masquerading"
159reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1036/"
160[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
161id = "T1036.005"
162name = "Match Legitimate Name or Location"
163reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1036/005/"
164
165
166[[rule.threat.technique]]
167id = "T1548"
168name = "Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism"
169reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/"
170[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
171id = "T1548.002"
172name = "Bypass User Account Control"
173reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/002/"
174
175
176
177[rule.threat.tactic]
178id = "TA0005"
179name = "Defense Evasion"
180reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"