Rules Contributing to Suspicious Windows Service Installation Alert

The following rules are used to identify suspicious activity with service installation activity. Any one or more of these will trigger the Suspicious Windows Service Installation Alert. Details for each rule can be viewed by clicking the More Details link in the description.

Title

Description

Invoke-Obfuscation VAR++ LAUNCHER OBFUSCATION - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via VAR++ LAUNCHER

Rule ID

windows_security_1

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['&&set', 'cmd', '/c', '-f'], 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['{0}', '{1}', '{2}', '{3}', '{4}', '{5}']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,4c54ba8f-73d2-4d40-8890-d9cf1dca3d30

Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2020/10/13 high

  • Unknown

Malicious Service Installations

Detects known malicious service installs that only appear in cases of lateral movement, credential dumping, and other suspicious activities.

Rule ID

windows_security_8

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697}, 'malsvc_apt29': {'ServiceName': 'javamtsup'}, 'condition': 'selection and 1 of malsvc_*'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,cb062102-587e-4414-8efa-dbe3c7bf19c6

Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community (update)

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1003, T1543.003, T1569.002

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2017/03/27 critical

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation Via Use MSHTA - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via use MSHTA in Scripts

Rule ID

windows_security_10

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['mshta', 'vbscript:createobject', '.run', 'window.close']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,9b8d9203-4e0f-4cd9-bb06-4cc4ea6d0e9a

Author: Nikita Nazarov, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/09 high

  • Unknown

Service Installed By Unusual Client - Security

Detects a service installed by a client which has PID 0 or whose parent has PID 0

Rule ID

windows_security_13

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697}, 'selection_pid': [{'ClientProcessId': 0}, {'ParentProcessId': 0}], 'condition': 'all of selection*'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,c4e92a97-a9ff-4392-9d2d-7a4c642768ca

Author: Tim Rauch (Nextron Systems), Elastic

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1543

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2022/09/15 high

  • Unknown

Meterpreter or Cobalt Strike Getsystem Service Installation - Security

Detects the use of getsystem Meterpreter/Cobalt Strike command by detecting a specific service installation

Rule ID

windows_security_26

Query

{'selection_id': {'EventID': 4697}, 'selection': [{'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['cmd', '/c', 'echo', '\\pipe\\']}, {'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['%COMSPEC%', '/c', 'echo', '\\pipe\\']}, {'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['cmd.exe', '/c', 'echo', '\\pipe\\']}, {'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['rundll32', '.dll,a', '/p:']}], 'condition': 'selection_id and selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,ecbc5e16-58e0-4521-9c60-eb9a7ea4ad34

Author: Teymur Kheirkhabarov, Ecco, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1134

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2019/10/26 critical

  • Highly unlikely

Invoke-Obfuscation RUNDLL LAUNCHER - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via RUNDLL LAUNCHER

Rule ID

windows_security_32

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['rundll32.exe', 'shell32.dll', 'shellexec_rundll', 'powershell']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,f241cf1b-3a6b-4e1a-b4f9-133c00dd95ca

Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/18 medium

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation Via Use Rundll32 - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via use Rundll32 in Scripts

Rule ID

windows_security_33

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['&&', 'rundll32', 'shell32.dll', 'shellexec_rundll'], 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['value', 'invoke', 'comspec', 'iex']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,cd0f7229-d16f-42de-8fe3-fba365fbcb3a

Author: Nikita Nazarov, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/09 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation STDIN+ Launcher - Security

Detects Obfuscated use of stdin to execute PowerShell

Rule ID

windows_security_50

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['cmd', 'powershell']}, 'selection2': {'ServiceFileName|contains': ['${input}', 'noexit']}, 'selection3': {'ServiceFileName|contains': [' /c ', ' /r ']}, 'condition': 'all of selection*'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,0c718a5e-4284-4fb9-b4d9-b9a50b3a1974

Author: Jonathan Cheong, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/15 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation Via Stdin - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via Stdin in Scripts

Rule ID

windows_security_53

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['set', '&&'], 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['environment', 'invoke', '${input)']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,80b708f3-d034-40e4-a6c8-d23b7a7db3d1

Author: Nikita Nazarov, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/12 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation CLIP+ Launcher - Security

Detects Obfuscated use of Clip.exe to execute PowerShell

Rule ID

windows_security_55

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['cmd', '&&', 'clipboard]::']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,4edf51e1-cb83-4e1a-bc39-800e396068e3

Author: Jonathan Cheong, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/13 high

  • Unknown

Metasploit Or Impacket Service Installation Via SMB PsExec

Detects usage of Metasploit SMB PsExec (exploit/windows/smb/psexec) and Impacket psexec.py by triggering on specific service installation

Rule ID

windows_security_61

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|re': '^%systemroot%\\\\[a-zA-Z]{8}\\.exe$', 'ServiceName|re': '(^[a-zA-Z]{4}$)|(^[a-zA-Z]{8}$)|(^[a-zA-Z]{16}$)', 'ServiceStartType': '3', 'ServiceType': '0x10'}, 'filter': {'ServiceName': 'PSEXESVC'}, 'condition': 'selection and not filter'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,6fb63b40-e02a-403e-9ffd-3bcc1d749442

Author: Bartlomiej Czyz, Relativity

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1021.002, T1569.002, T1570

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2021/01/21 high

  • Possible, different agents with a 8 character binary and a 4, 8 or 16 character service name

Invoke-Obfuscation Obfuscated IEX Invocation - Security

Detects all variations of obfuscated powershell IEX invocation code generated by Invoke-Obfuscation framework from the code block linked in the references

Rule ID

windows_security_71

Query

{'selection_eid': {'EventID': 4697}, 'selection_servicefilename': [{'ServiceFileName|re': '\\$PSHome\\[\\s*\\d{1,3}\\s*\\]\\s*\\+\\s*\\$PSHome\\['}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\$ShellId\\[\\s*\\d{1,3}\\s*\\]\\s*\\+\\s*\\$ShellId\\['}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\$env:Public\\[\\s*\\d{1,3}\\s*\\]\\s*\\+\\s*\\$env:Public\\['}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\$env:ComSpec\\[(\\s*\\d{1,3}\\s*,){2}'}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\\\*mdr*\\W\\s*\\)\\.Name'}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\$VerbosePreference\\.ToString\\('}, {'ServiceFileName|re': '\\String\\]\\s*\\$VerbosePreference'}], 'condition': 'all of selection_*'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,fd0f5778-d3cb-4c9a-9695-66759d04702a

Author: Daniel Bohannon (@Mandiant/@FireEye), oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2019/11/08 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation Via Use Clip - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via use Clip.exe in Scripts

Rule ID

windows_security_76

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains': '(Clipboard|i'}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,1a0a2ff1-611b-4dac-8216-8a7b47c618a6

Author: Nikita Nazarov, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/09 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation VAR+ Launcher - Security

Detects Obfuscated use of Environment Variables to execute PowerShell

Rule ID

windows_security_90

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['cmd', '"set', '-f'], 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['/c', '/r']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,dcf2db1f-f091-425b-a821-c05875b8925a

Author: Jonathan Cheong, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/15 high

  • Unknown

Invoke-Obfuscation COMPRESS OBFUSCATION - Security

Detects Obfuscated Powershell via COMPRESS OBFUSCATION

Rule ID

windows_security_102

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains|all': ['new-object', 'text.encoding]::ascii', 'readtoend'], 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['system.io.compression.deflatestream', 'system.io.streamreader']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,7a922f1b-2635-4d6c-91ef-af228b198ad3

Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1027, T1059.001

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
experimental 2020/10/18 medium

  • Unknown

PowerShell Scripts Installed as Services - Security

Detects powershell script installed as a Service

Rule ID

windows_security_106

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['powershell', 'pwsh']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,2a926e6a-4b81-4011-8a96-e36cc8c04302

Author: oscd.community, Natalia Shornikova

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1569.002

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2020/10/06 high

  • Unknown

HybridConnectionManager Service Installation

Rule to detect the Hybrid Connection Manager service installation.

Rule ID

windows_security_110

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceName': 'HybridConnectionManager', 'ServiceFileName|contains': 'HybridConnectionManager'}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,0ee4d8a5-4e67-4faf-acfa-62a78457d1f2

Author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research)

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1554

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2021/04/12 high

  • Legitimate use of Hybrid Connection Manager via Azure function apps.

Tap Driver Installation - Security

Well-known TAP software installation. Possible preparation for data exfiltration using tunnelling techniques

Rule ID

windows_security_114

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains': 'tap0901'}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,9c8afa4d-0022-48f0-9456-3712466f9701

Author: Daniil Yugoslavskiy, Ian Davis, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1048

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2019/10/24 medium

  • Legitimate OpenVPN TAP insntallation

Credential Dumping Tools Service Execution - Security

Detects well-known credential dumping tools execution via service execution events

Rule ID

windows_security_128

Query

{'selection': {'EventID': 4697, 'ServiceFileName|contains': ['fgexec', 'dumpsvc', 'cachedump', 'mimidrv', 'gsecdump', 'servpw', 'pwdump']}, 'condition': 'selection'}

Log Source

Stellar Cyber Windows Server Sensor configured for:

  • Collecting Windows Security Events

  • The 'System Security Extension' audit subcategory need to be enabled to log the EID 4697

Rule Source

SigmaHQ,f0d1feba-4344-4ca9-8121-a6c97bd6df52

Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Teymur Kheirkhabarov, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

T1003, T1569

References

N/A

Additional Information

Maturity Creation Date Risk Level False Positives
test 2017/03/05 high

  • Legitimate Administrator using credential dumping tool for password recovery