File Creation Time Changed

Identifies modification of a file creation time. Adversaries may modify file time attributes to blend malicious content with existing files. Timestomping is a technique that modifies the timestamps of a file often to mimic files that are in trusted directories.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*

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: None

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Windows
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Defense Evasion
Data Source: Sysmon

Version: 105

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.code : "2" and

 /* Requires Sysmon EventID 2 - File creation time change */
 event.action : "File creation time changed*" and

 not process.executable :
          ("?:\\Program Files\\*",
           "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*",
           "?:\\Windows\\system32\\cleanmgr.exe",
           "?:\\Windows\\system32\\msiexec.exe",
           "?:\\Windows\\syswow64\\msiexec.exe",
           "?:\\Windows\\system32\\svchost.exe",
           "?:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\backgroundTaskHost.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\slack\\app-*\\slack.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\GitHubDesktop\\app-*\\GitHubDesktop.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Teams\\current\\Teams.exe",
           "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\OneDrive\\OneDrive.exe") and
 not file.extension : ("temp", "tmp", "~tmp", "xml", "newcfg") and not user.name : ("SYSTEM", "Local Service", "Network Service") and
 not file.name : ("LOG", "temp-index", "license.rtf", "iconcache_*.db")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Indicator Removal
- ID: T1070
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1070/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Timestomp
- ID: T1070.006
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1070/006/

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