IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates
will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the
current release documentation.
Unusual Service Host Child Process - Childless Serviceedit
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.*
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-windows.*
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
- Defense Evasion
- Privilege Escalation
Version: 6 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positivesedit
Changes to Windows services or a rarely executed child process.
Investigation guideedit
Rule queryedit
process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") 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","ShellHWDete
ction", "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_i4x50\\lib\\lexexe.exe")
and process.parent.args : "imgsvc")
Threat mappingedit
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
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/
-
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/
Rule version historyedit
- Version 6 (8.4.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") 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","ShellHWDete ction", "AppHostSvc","fhsvc","CscService","PushToInstall") and /* unknown FPs can be added here */ not process.name : ("WerFault.exe","WerFaultSecure.exe","wermgr.exe")
-
- Version 4 (8.2.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only