Windows Hidden Schedule Task Settings
Description
The following analytic detects creation of hidden scheculed tasks such that it this task is not visible on the UI. Such behavior is indicative of certain malware, such as Industroyer2, or attacks leveraging living-off-the-land binaries (LOLBINs) to download additional payloads to a compromised machine. This analytic relies on the Windows Security EventCode 4698, indicating the creation of a scheduled task. The search focuses on identifying instances where the 'Hidden' setting is enabled, signaling potential nefarious activity. To implement this search, you need to ingest logs with task scheduling details from your endpoints. As false positives are currently unknown, it is advised to tune and filter based on the known use of task scheduling in your environment. This analytic provides crucial visibility into stealthy, potentially harmful scheduled tasks on Windows systems.
- Type: TTP
-
Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Last Updated: 2023-04-14
- Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
- ID: 0b730470-5fe8-4b13-93a7-fe0ad014d0cc
Annotations
ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phase
- Installation
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4698
| xmlkv Message
| search Hidden = true
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by Task_Name, Command, Author, Hidden, dest
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_hidden_schedule_task_settings_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_hidden_schedule_task_settings_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Required fields
List of fields required to use this analytic.
- _time
- dest
- Task_Name
- Command
- Author
- Enabled
- Hidden
- Arguments
How To Implement
To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the task schedule (Exa. Security Log EventCode 4698) endpoints. Tune and filter known instances of Task schedule used in your environment.
Known False Positives
unknown
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
64.0 | 80 | 80 | A schedule task with hidden setting enable in host $dest$ |
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.
Reference
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/2022/04/12/industroyer2-industroyer-reloaded/
- https://cert.gov.ua/article/39518
Test Dataset
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 | version: 1