HackTool - Potential Impacket Lateral Movement Activity

Hunt Hypothesis

Detects wmiexec/dcomexec/atexec/smbexec from Impacket framework

Detection Rule

Sigma (Original)

title: HackTool - Potential Impacket Lateral Movement Activity
id: 10c14723-61c7-4c75-92ca-9af245723ad2
related:
    - id: e31f89f7-36fb-4697-8ab6-48823708353b
      type: obsolete
status: stable
description: Detects wmiexec/dcomexec/atexec/smbexec from Impacket framework
references:
    - https://github.com/SecureAuthCorp/impacket/blob/8b1a99f7c715702eafe3f24851817bb64721b156/examples/wmiexec.py
    - https://github.com/SecureAuthCorp/impacket/blob/8b1a99f7c715702eafe3f24851817bb64721b156/examples/atexec.py
    - https://github.com/SecureAuthCorp/impacket/blob/8b1a99f7c715702eafe3f24851817bb64721b156/examples/smbexec.py
    - https://github.com/SecureAuthCorp/impacket/blob/8b1a99f7c715702eafe3f24851817bb64721b156/examples/dcomexec.py
    - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/suspicious-cmd-execution-via-wmi.html
author: Ecco, oscd.community, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, Tim Rauch
date: 2019-09-03
modified: 2023-02-21
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1047
    - attack.lateral-movement
    - attack.t1021.003
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_other:
        # *** wmiexec.py
        #    parent is wmiprvse.exe
        #    examples:
        #       cmd.exe /Q /c whoami 1> \\127.0.0.1\ADMIN$\__1567439113.54 2>&1
        #       cmd.exe /Q /c cd  1> \\127.0.0.1\ADMIN$\__1567439113.54 2>&1
        # *** dcomexec.py -object MMC20
        #   parent is mmc.exe
        #   example:
        #       "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /Q /c cd  1> \\127.0.0.1\ADMIN$\__1567442499.05 2>&1
        # *** dcomexec.py -object ShellBrowserWindow
        #  runs %SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHCreateLocalServerRunDll {c08afd90-f2a1-11d1-8455-00a0c91f3880} but parent command is explorer.exe
        #  example:
        #   "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /Q /c cd \ 1> \\127.0.0.1\ADMIN$\__1567520103.71 2>&1
        # *** smbexec.py
        #   parent is services.exe
        #   example:
        #       C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /Q /c echo tasklist ^> \\127.0.0.1\C$\__output 2^>^&1 > C:\Windows\TEMP\execute.bat & C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /Q /c C:\Windows\TEMP\execute.bat & del C:\Windows\TEMP\execute.bat
        ParentImage|endswith:
            - '\wmiprvse.exe'        # wmiexec
            - '\mmc.exe'        # dcomexec MMC
            - '\explorer.exe'        # dcomexec ShellBrowserWindow
            - '\services.exe'        # smbexec
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'cmd.exe'
            - '/Q'
            - '/c'
            - '\\\\127.0.0.1\\'
            - '&1'
    selection_atexec:
        ParentCommandLine|contains:
            - 'svchost.exe -k netsvcs'       # atexec on win10 (parent is "C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs")
            - 'taskeng.exe'       # atexec on win7 (parent is "taskeng.exe {AFA79333-694C-4BEE-910E-E57D9A3518F6} S-1-5-18:NT AUTHORITY\System:Service:")
            # cmd.exe /C tasklist /m > C:\Windows\Temp\bAJrYQtL.tmp 2>&1
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'cmd.exe'
            - '/C'
            - 'Windows\Temp\'
            - '&1'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

KQL (Azure Sentinel)

imProcessCreate
| where (((ParentProcessName endswith "\\wmiprvse.exe" or ParentProcessName endswith "\\mmc.exe" or ParentProcessName endswith "\\explorer.exe" or ParentProcessName endswith "\\services.exe") or (ActingProcessName endswith "\\wmiprvse.exe" or ActingProcessName endswith "\\mmc.exe" or ActingProcessName endswith "\\explorer.exe" or ActingProcessName endswith "\\services.exe")) and (TargetProcessCommandLine contains "cmd.exe" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "/Q" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "/c" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "\\\\127.0.0.1\\" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "&1")) or ((ActingProcessCommandLine contains "svchost.exe -k netsvcs" or ActingProcessCommandLine contains "taskeng.exe") and (TargetProcessCommandLine contains "cmd.exe" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "/C" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "Windows\\Temp\\" and TargetProcessCommandLine contains "&1"))

Required Data Sources

Sentinel Table	Notes
`imProcessCreate`	Ensure this data connector is enabled

HackTool - Potential Impacket Lateral Movement Activity

Hunt Hypothesis

Detection Rule

Sigma (Original)

KQL (Azure Sentinel)

Required Data Sources

False Positive Guidance

MITRE ATT&CK Context

References