It advocates for regular system inventory audits to catch adversary behavior that might be missed by event logs due to inadequate logging configurations or activities occurring before logging enhancements are deployed. Organizations are encouraged to enable comprehensive logging for all security-related events, including shell activities, system calls, and audit trails across all platforms, to improve the detection of malicious LOTL activity.
Network Logs
The detection of LOTL techniques through network logs presents unique challenges due to the transient nature of network artifacts and the complexity of distinguishing malicious activity from legitimate behavior. Network defenders must be vigilant and proactive in configuring and setting up logs to capture the necessary data for identifying LOTL activities. Unlike host artifacts, which can often be found unless deliberately deleted by a threat actor, network artifacts are derived from network traffic and are inherently more difficult to detect and capture. Network artifacts are significantly harder to detect than host artifacts because they are largely transient and require proper configuration of logging systems to be captured. Without the right sensors in place to record network traffic, there is no way to observe LOTL activity from a network perspective.
Indicators of LOTL Activity
Detecting LOTL activity involves looking for a collection of possible indicators that, together, paint a picture of the behavior of network traffic.
📌 Reviewing Firewall Logs: Blocked access attempts in firewall logs can signal compromise, especially in a properly segmented network. Network discovery and mapping attempts from within the network can also be indicative of LOTL activity. It is crucial to differentiate between normal network management tool behavior and abnormal traffic patterns.
📌 Investigating Unusual Traffic Patterns: Specific types of traffic should be scrutinized, such as LDAP requests from non-domain joined Linux hosts, SMB requests across different network segments, or database access requests from user workstations that should only be made by frontend servers. Establishing baseline noise levels can help in distinguishing between legitimate applications and malicious requests.
📌 Examining Logs from Network Services on Host Machines: Logs from services like Sysmon and IIS on host machines can provide insights into web server interactions, FTP transactions, and other network activities. These logs can offer valuable context and details that may not be captured by traditional network devices.
📌 Combining Network Traffic Logs with Host-based Logs: This approach allows for the inclusion of additional information such as user account and process details. Discrepancies between the destination and on-network artifacts could indicate malicious traffic.
Application, Security, and System Event Logs
Default logging configurations often fail to capture all necessary events, potentially leaving gaps in the visibility of malicious activities. Prioritizing logs and data sources that are more likely to reveal malicious LOTL activities is crucial for effective detection and response.
Authentication Logs
📌Authentication logs play a vital role in identifying unauthorized access attempts and tracking user activities across the network. The guidance recommends ensuring that logging is enabled for all control plane operations, including API calls and end-user logins, through services like Amazon Web Services CloudTrail, Azure Activity Log, and Google Cloud Audit Logs. These logs can provide valuable insights into potential LOTL activities by highlighting unusual access patterns or attempts to exploit authentication mechanisms.
📌A robust strategy for the separation of privileges is essential for identifying LOTL techniques through authentication logs. Practices such as restricting domain administrator accounts to only log into domain controllers and using Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs) in conjunction with bastion hosts can minimize credential exposure and reinforce network segmentation. Multifactor authentication adds an additional layer of security.
Host-based Logs
Sysmon and other host-based logging tools offer granular visibility into system activities that can indicate LOTL exploitation. By capturing detailed information about process creations, network connections, and file system changes, these tools can help organizations detect and investigate suspicious behavior that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Establishing Baselines and Secure Logging
A foundational step in detecting abnormal or potentially malicious behavior is the establishment of baselines for running tools and activities. This involves understanding the normal operational patterns of a system to identify deviations that may indicate a security threat. It's also essential to rely on secure logs that are less susceptible to tampering by adversaries. For instance, while Linux .bash_history files can be modified by nonprivileged users, system-level auditd logs are more secure and provide a reliable record of activities.
Leveraging Sysmon in Windows Environments
📌Sysmon, a Windows system monitoring tool, offers granular insights into activities such as process creations, network connections, and registry modifications. This detailed logging is invaluable for security teams in hunting for and detecting the misuse of legitimate tools and utilities. Key strategies include:
📌Using the OriginalFileName property to identify renamed files, which may indicate malicious activity. For most Microsoft utilities, the original filenames are stored in the PE header, providing a method to detect file tampering.
📌Implementing detection techniques to identify the malicious use of command-line and scripting utilities, especially those exploiting Alternate Data Streams (ADS). Monitoring specific command-line arguments or syntax used to interact with ADS can reveal attempts to execute or interact with hidden payloads.
Targeted Detection Strategies
Enhancing Sysmon configurations to log and scrutinize command-line executions, with a focus on patterns indicative of obfuscation, can help identify attempts by cyber threat actors to bypass security monitoring tools. Examples include the extensive use of escape characters, concatenation of commands, and the employment of Base64 encoding.
Monitoring Suspicious Process Chains
Monitoring for suspicious process chains, such as Microsoft Office documents initiating scripting processes, is a key indicator of LOTL activity. It's uncommon for Office applications to launch scripting processes like cmd.exe, PowerShell, wscript.exe, or cscript.exe. Tracking these process creations and the execution of unusual commands from Office applications can signal a red flag and warrants further investigation.
Integrating Logs with SIEM Systems
Integrating Sysmon logs with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems and applying correlation rules can significantly enhance the detection of advanced attack scenarios. This integration allows for the automation of the detection process and the application of analytics to identify complex patterns of malicious activity.
Linux and macOS Considerations
On Linux machines, enabling Auditd or Sysmon for Linux logging and integrating these logs with an SIEM platform can greatly improve the detection of anomalous activities. For macOS, utilizing tools like Santa, an open-source binary authorization system, can help monitor process executions and detect abnormal behavior by productivity applications
Review Configurations
Regularly reviewing and updating system configurations is essential to ensure that security measures remain effective against evolving threats. This includes verifying that logging settings are appropriately configured to capture relevant data and that security controls are aligned with current best practices. Organizations should also assess the use of allowlists and other access control mechanisms to prevent the misuse of legitimate tools by malicious actors.
Regular reviews of host configurations against established baselines are essential for catching indicators of compromise (IOCs) that may not be reverted through regular group policy updates. This includes changes to installed software, firewall configurations, and updates to core files such as the Hosts file, which is used for DNS resolution. Such reviews can reveal discrepancies that signal unauthorized modifications or the presence of malicious software.
📌 Bypassing Standard Event Logs: Cyber threat actors have been known to bypass standard event logs by directly writing to the registry to register services and scheduled tasks. This method does not create standard system events, making it a stealthy way to establish persistence or execute tasks without triggering alerts.
📌 System Inventory Audits: Conducting regular system inventory audits is a proactive measure to catch adversary behavior that may have been missed by event logs, whether due to incorrect event capture or activities that occurred before logging enhancements were deployed. These audits help ensure that any changes to the system are authorized and accounted for.
Behavioral Analysis
Comparing activity against normal user behavior is key to detecting anomalies. Unusual behaviors to look out for include odd login hours, access outside of expected work schedules or holiday breaks, rapid succession or high volume of access attempts, unusual access paths, concurrent sign-ins from multiple locations, and instances of impossible time travel.
NTDSUtil.exe and PSExec.exe
Specific attention is given to detecting misuse of NTDSUtil.exe and PSExec.exe, tools that, while legitimate, are often leveraged by attackers for malicious purposes, such as attempts to dump credentials or move laterally across the network. By focusing on the behavioral context of these tools' usage, organizations can more effectively distinguish between legitimate and malicious activities.
The Exploitation Process
A common tactic involves creating a volume shadow copy of the system drive, typically using vssadmin.exe with commands like Create Shadow /for=C:. This action captures a snapshot of the system's current state, including the Active Directory database. Following this, ntdsutil.exe is employed to interact with this shadow copy through a specific command sequence (ntdsutil snapshot “activate instance ntds” create quit quit). The attackers then access the shadow copy to extract the ntds.dit file from a specified directory. This sequence aims to retrieve sensitive credentials, such as hashed passwords, from the Active Directory, enabling full domain compromise.
Detection and Response
To detect and respond to such exploitation, it's crucial to understand the context of ntdsutil.exe activities and differentiate between legitimate administrative use and potential malicious exploitation. Key log sources and monitoring strategies include:
📌 Command-line and Process Creation Logs: Security logs (Event ID 4688) and Sysmon logs (Event ID 1) provide insights into the execution of ntdsutil.exe commands. Unusual or infrequent use of ntdsutil.exe for snapshot creation might indicate suspicious activity.
📌 File Creation and Access Logs: Monitoring file creation events (Sysmon’s Event ID 11) and attempts to access sensitive files like NTDS.dit (security logs with Event ID 4663) can offer additional context to the snapshot creation and access process.
📌 Privilege Use Logs: Event ID 4673 in security logs, indicating the use of privileged services, can signal potential misuse when correlated with the execution of ntdsutil.exe commands.
📌 Network Activity and Authentication Logs: These logs can provide context about concurrent remote connections or data transfers, potentially indicating data exfiltration attempts. Authentication logs are also crucial for identifying the executor of the ntdsutil.exe command and assessing whether the usage aligns with typical administrative behavior.
Comprehensive Analysis of PSExec.exe in LOTL Tactics
PSExec.exe, a component of the Microsoft PsTools suite, is a powerful utility for system administrators, offering the capability to remotely execute commands across networked systems, often with elevated SYSTEM privileges. Its versatility, however, also makes it a favored tool in Living Off the Land (LOTL) tactics employed by cyber threat actors.
The Role of PSExec.exe in Cyber Threats
PSExec.exe is commonly utilized for remote administration and the execution of processes across systems, such as execute one-off commands aimed at modifying system configurations, such as removing port proxy configurations on a remote host with commands like:
"C:\pstools\psexec.exe" {REDACTED} -s cmd /c "cmd.exe /c netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 listenport=9999"
Detection and Contextualization Strategies
To effectively counter the malicious use of PSExec.exe, network defenders must leverage a variety of logs that provide insights into the execution of commands and the broader context of the operation:
📌 Command-line and Process Creation Logs: Security logs (Event ID 4688) and Sysmon logs (Event ID 1) are invaluable for tracking the execution of PSExec.exe and associated commands. These logs detail the command line used, shedding light on the process's nature and intent.
📌 Privilege Use and Explicit Credential Logs: Security logs (Event ID 4672) document instances where special privileges are assigned to new logons, crucial when PSExec is executed with the -s switch for SYSTEM privileges. Event ID 4648 captures explicit credential use, indicating when PSExec is run with specific user credentials.
📌 Sysmon Logs for Network Connections and Registry Changes: Sysmon's Event ID 3 logs network connections, central to PSExec’s remote execution functionality. Event IDs 12, 13, and 14 track registry changes, including deletions (Event ID 14) of registry keys associated with the executed Netsh command, providing evidence of modifications to the system's configuration.
📌 Windows Registry Audit Logs: If enabled, these logs record modifications to registry keys, offering detailed information such as the timestamp of changes, the account under which changes were made (often the SYSTEM account due to PSExec's -s switch), and the specific registry values altered or deleted.
📌 Network and Firewall Logs: Analysis of network traffic, especially SMB traffic characteristic of PSExec use, and firewall logs on the target system can reveal connections to administrative shares and changes to the system's network configuration. These logs can correlate with the timing of command execution, providing further context to the activity.
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