Unusual Service Host Child Process - Childless Service

Identifies unusual child processes of Service Host (svchost.exe) that traditionally do not spawn any child processes. This may indicate a code injection or an equivalent form of exploitation.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.process-*
winlogbeat-*
logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*
endgame-*
logs-m365_defender.event-*
logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

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

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Windows
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Defense Evasion
Tactic: Privilege Escalation
Data Source: Elastic Endgame
Data Source: Elastic Defend
Data Source: Sysmon
Data Source: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Data Source: SentinelOne

Version: 310

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  process.parent.name : "svchost.exe" and

  /* based on svchost service arguments -s svcname where the service is known to be childless */
  process.parent.args : (
    "WdiSystemHost", "LicenseManager", "StorSvc", "CDPSvc", "cdbhsvc", "BthAvctpSvc", "SstpSvc", "WdiServiceHost",
    "imgsvc", "TrkWks", "WpnService", "IKEEXT", "PolicyAgent", "CryptSvc", "netprofm", "ProfSvc", "StateRepository",
    "camsvc", "LanmanWorkstation", "NlaSvc", "EventLog", "hidserv", "DisplayEnhancementService", "ShellHWDetection",
    "AppHostSvc", "fhsvc", "CscService", "PushToInstall"
  ) and

  /* unknown FPs can be added here */
  not process.name : ("WerFault.exe", "WerFaultSecure.exe", "wermgr.exe") and
  not (process.executable : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\RelPost.exe" and process.parent.args : "WdiSystemHost") and
  not (
    process.name : "rundll32.exe" and
    process.args : "?:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\winethc.dll,ForceProxyDetectionOnNextRun" and
    process.parent.args : "WdiServiceHost"
  ) and
  not (
    process.executable : (
      "?:\\Program Files\\*",
      "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*",
      "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Kodak\\kds_?????\\lib\\lexexe.exe"
    ) and process.parent.args : "imgsvc"
  )

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
Technique:
- Name: Process Injection
- ID: T1055
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Process Hollowing
- ID: T1055.012
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/012/
Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Process Injection
- ID: T1055
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Process Hollowing
- ID: T1055.012
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/012/

« Unusual Remote File Size Unusual Source IP for a User to Logon from »