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Unusual Parent-Child Relationship

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Unusual Parent-Child Relationship

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Identifies Windows programs run from unexpected parent processes. This could indicate masquerading or other strange activity on a system.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Privilege Escalation

Version: 5 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License

Rule query

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event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
process.parent.executable:* and (process.parent.name:autochk.exe and
not process.name:(chkdsk.exe or doskey.exe or WerFault.exe) or
process.parent.name:smss.exe and not process.name:(autochk.exe or
smss.exe or csrss.exe or wininit.exe or winlogon.exe or WerFault.exe)
or process.name:autochk.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:(fontdrvhost.exe or dwm.exe) and not
process.parent.name:(wininit.exe or winlogon.exe) or
process.name:(consent.exe or RuntimeBroker.exe or TiWorker.exe) and
not process.parent.name:svchost.exe or process.name:wermgr.exe and not
process.parent.name:(svchost.exe or TiWorker.exe) or
process.name:SearchIndexer.exe and not
process.parent.name:services.exe or
process.name:SearchProtocolHost.exe and not
process.parent.name:(SearchIndexer.exe or dllhost.exe) or
process.name:dllhost.exe and not process.parent.name:(services.exe or
svchost.exe) or process.name:smss.exe and not
process.parent.name:(System or smss.exe) or process.name:csrss.exe and
not process.parent.name:(smss.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:wininit.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:winlogon.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:(lsass.exe or LsaIso.exe) and not
process.parent.name:wininit.exe or process.name:LogonUI.exe and not
process.parent.name:(wininit.exe or winlogon.exe) or
process.name:services.exe and not process.parent.name:wininit.exe or
process.name:svchost.exe and not process.parent.name:(MsMpEng.exe or
services.exe) or process.name:spoolsv.exe and not
process.parent.name:services.exe or process.name:taskhost.exe and not
process.parent.name:(services.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:taskhostw.exe and not process.parent.name:(services.exe
or svchost.exe) or process.name:userinit.exe and not
process.parent.name:(dwm.exe or winlogon.exe))

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
Technique:
- Name: Process Hollowing
- ID: T1093
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1093/

Rule version history

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Version 5 (7.10.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.category:process and event.type:(start or process_started) and
process.parent.executable:* and (process.name:smss.exe and not
process.parent.name:(System or smss.exe) or process.name:csrss.exe and
not process.parent.name:(smss.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:wininit.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:winlogon.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:lsass.exe and not process.parent.name:wininit.exe or
process.name:LogonUI.exe and not process.parent.name:(wininit.exe or
winlogon.exe) or process.name:services.exe and not
process.parent.name:wininit.exe or process.name:svchost.exe and not
process.parent.name:(MsMpEng.exe or services.exe) or
process.name:spoolsv.exe and not process.parent.name:services.exe or
process.name:taskhost.exe and not process.parent.name:(services.exe or
svchost.exe) or process.name:taskhostw.exe and not
process.parent.name:(services.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:userinit.exe and not process.parent.name:(dwm.exe or
winlogon.exe))

Version 4 (7.9.1 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.9.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
process.parent.executable:* and (process.name:smss.exe and not
process.parent.name:(System or smss.exe) or process.name:csrss.exe and
not process.parent.name:(smss.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:wininit.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:winlogon.exe and not process.parent.name:smss.exe or
process.name:lsass.exe and not process.parent.name:wininit.exe or
process.name:LogonUI.exe and not process.parent.name:(wininit.exe or
winlogon.exe) or process.name:services.exe and not
process.parent.name:wininit.exe or process.name:svchost.exe and not
process.parent.name:(MsMpEng.exe or services.exe) or
process.name:spoolsv.exe and not process.parent.name:services.exe or
process.name:taskhost.exe and not process.parent.name:(services.exe or
svchost.exe) or process.name:taskhostw.exe and not
process.parent.name:(services.exe or svchost.exe) or
process.name:userinit.exe and not process.parent.name:(dwm.exe or
winlogon.exe))

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.action:"Process Create (rule: ProcessCreate)" and
process.parent.executable:* and ( (process.name:"smss.exe" and not
process.parent.name:("System" or "smss.exe")) or
(process.name:"csrss.exe" and not process.parent.name:("smss.exe" or
"svchost.exe")) or (process.name:"wininit.exe" and not
process.parent.name:"smss.exe") or (process.name:"winlogon.exe" and
not process.parent.name:"smss.exe") or (process.name:"lsass.exe" and
not process.parent.name:"wininit.exe") or (process.name:"LogonUI.exe"
and not process.parent.name:("winlogon.exe" or "wininit.exe")) or
(process.name:"services.exe" and not
process.parent.name:"wininit.exe") or (process.name:"svchost.exe" and
not process.parent.name:("services.exe" or "MsMpEng.exe")) or
(process.name:"spoolsv.exe" and not
process.parent.name:"services.exe") or (process.name:"taskhost.exe"
and not process.parent.name:("services.exe" or "svchost.exe")) or
(process.name:"taskhostw.exe" and not
process.parent.name:("services.exe" or "svchost.exe")) or
(process.name:"userinit.exe" and not process.parent.name:("dwm.exe" or
"winlogon.exe")) )

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