SLUI Spawning a Process
Description
The following analytic identifies the Microsoft Software Licensing User Interface Tool, slui.exe
, spawning a child process. This behavior is associated with publicly known UAC bypass. slui.exe
is commonly associated with software updates and is most often spawned by svchost.exe
. The slui.exe
process should not have child processes, and any processes spawning from it will be running with elevated privileges. During triage, review the child process and additional parallel processes. Identify any file modifications that may have lead to the bypass.
- Type: TTP
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2021-05-13
- Author: Michael Haag, Splunk
- ID: 879c4330-b3e0-11eb-b1b1-acde48001122
Annotations
ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name=slui.exe by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `slui_spawning_a_process_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
slui_spawning_a_process_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
- Processes.dest
- Processes.user
- Processes.parent_process
- Processes.process_name
- Processes.process
- Processes.process_id
- Processes.parent_process_id
How To Implement
The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes
node of the Endpoint
data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.
Known False Positives
Certain applications may spawn from slui.exe
that are legitimate. Filtering will be needed to ensure proper monitoring.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
63.0 | 70 | 90 | A slui process $parent_process_name$ spawning child process $process_name$ 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.exploit-db.com/exploits/46998
- https://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/windows/local/bypassuac_sluihijack/
- https://www.mandiant.com/resources/shining-a-light-on-darkside-ransomware-operations
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