Potential Persistence via Time Provider Modificationedit

Identifies modification of the time provider. Adversaries may establish persistence by registering and enabling a malicious DLL as a time provider. Windows uses the time provider architecture to obtain accurate time stamps from other network devices or clients in the network. Time providers are implemented in the form of a DLL file which resides in the System32 folder. The service W32Time initiates during the startup of Windows and loads w32time.dll.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*

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:

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Persistence

Version: 3

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule queryedit

registry where event.type:"change" and
  registry.path:"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\W32Time\\TimeProviders\\*" and
  registry.data.strings:"*.dll"

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM