Windows Service Installed via an Unusual Client

Identifies the creation of a Windows service by an unusual client process. Services may be created with administrator privileges but are executed under SYSTEM privileges, so an adversary may also use a service to escalate privileges from administrator to SYSTEM.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-system.*

Severity: high

Risk score: 73

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
Privilege Escalation

Version: 4

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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## Setup

The 'Audit Security System Extension' logging policy must be configured for (Success)
Steps to implement the logging policy with with Advanced Audit Configuration:

```
Computer Configuration >
Policies >
Windows Settings >
Security Settings >
Advanced Audit Policies Configuration >
Audit Policies >
System >
Audit Security System Extension (Success)
```

Rule query

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event.action:"service-installed"  and (winlog.event_data.ClientProcessId:"0" or winlog.event_data.ParentProcessId:"0")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
Technique:
- Name: Create or Modify System Process
- ID: T1543
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1543/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Windows Service
- ID: T1543.003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1543/003/

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