ScreenConnect User Database Modification - Security

calendar Apr 28, 2026 · cve.2024-1709 detection.emerging-threats attack.defense-impairment  ·
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This detects file modifications to the temporary xml user database file indicating local user modification in the ScreenConnect server. This will occur during exploitation of the ScreenConnect Authentication Bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-1709) in versions <23.9.8, but may also be observed when making legitimate modifications to local users or permissions. This requires an Advanced Auditing policy to log a successful Windows Event ID 4663 events and with a SACL set on the directory.

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: ScreenConnect User Database Modification - Security
 2id: 4109cb6a-a4af-438a-9f0c-056abba41c6f
 3related:
 4    - id: 1a821580-588b-4323-9422-660f7e131020
 5      type: similar
 6status: test
 7description: |
 8    This detects file modifications to the temporary xml user database file indicating local user modification in the ScreenConnect server.
 9    This will occur during exploitation of the ScreenConnect Authentication Bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-1709) in versions <23.9.8, but may also be observed when making legitimate modifications to local users or permissions.
10    This requires an Advanced Auditing policy to log a successful Windows Event ID 4663 events and with a SACL set on the directory.    
11references:
12    - https://www.connectwise.com/company/trust/security-bulletins/connectwise-screenconnect-23.9.8
13    - https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-1709
14    - https://www.huntress.com/blog/a-catastrophe-for-control-understanding-the-screenconnect-authentication-bypass
15author: Matt Anderson, Kris Luzadre, Andrew Schwartz, Huntress
16date: 2024-02-20
17tags:
18    - cve.2024-1709
19    - detection.emerging-threats
20    - attack.defense-impairment
21logsource:
22    product: windows
23    service: security
24    definition: 'Requirements: SACLs must be enabled for the ScreenConnect directory'
25detection:
26    selection:
27        EventID: 4663
28        ObjectType: 'File'
29        AccessMask: '0x6'
30        ObjectName|endswith: '.xml'
31        ObjectName|contains|all:
32            - 'Temp'
33            - 'ScreenConnect'
34        ProcessName|contains: 'ScreenConnect.Service.exe'
35    condition: selection
36falsepositives:
37    - This will occur legitimately as well and will result in some benign activity.
38level: medium

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