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Elastic Docs ›Elastic Security Solution [8.4] ›Detections and alerts ›Prebuilt rule reference

Remotely Started Services via RPC

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Remotely Started Services via RPC

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Identifies remote execution of Windows services over remote procedure call (RPC). This could be indicative of lateral movement, but will be noisy if commonly done by administrators."

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • winlogbeat-*
  • logs-windows.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Lateral Movement

Version: 6 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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sequence with maxspan=1s [network where process.name :
"services.exe" and network.direction : ("incoming", "ingress")
and network.transport == "tcp" and source.port >= 49152 and
destination.port >= 49152 and source.ip != "127.0.0.1" and source.ip
!= "::1" ] by host.id, process.entity_id [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.parent.name :
"services.exe" and not (process.name : "svchost.exe" and
process.args : "tiledatamodelsvc") and not (process.name :
"msiexec.exe" and process.args : "/V") and not
process.executable :
("?:\\Windows\\ADCR_Agent\\adcrsvc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\VSSVC.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\servicing\\TrustedInstaller.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe", "?:\\Program
Files (x86)\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\PSEXESVC.EXE",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\sppsvc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\wbem\\WmiApSrv.exe",
"?:\\WINDOWS\\RemoteAuditService.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\VeeamVssSupport\\VeeamGuestHelper.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\VeeamLogShipper\\VeeamLogShipper.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\CAInvokerService.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\upfc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\AdminArsenal\\PDQ*.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\vds.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\Veeam\\Backup\\VeeamDeploymentSvc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\ProPatches\\Scheduler\\STSchedEx.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\certsrv.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\eset-remote-install-service.exe",
"?:\\Pella Corporation\\Pella Order Management\\GPAutoSvc.exe",
"?:\\Pella Corporation\\OSCToGPAutoService\\OSCToGPAutoSvc.exe",
"?:\\Pella Corporation\\Pella Order Management\\GPAutoSvc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\NwxExeSvc\\NwxExeSvc.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\taskhostex.exe") ] by host.id,
process.parent.entity_id

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version history

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Version 6 (8.4.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    sequence with maxspan=1s [network where process.name :
"services.exe" and network.direction : ("incoming", "ingress")
and network.transport == "tcp" and source.port >= 49152 and
destination.port >= 49152 and source.ip != "127.0.0.1" and source.ip
!= "::1" ] by host.id, process.entity_id [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.parent.name :
"services.exe" and not (process.name : "svchost.exe" and
process.args : "tiledatamodelsvc") and not (process.name :
"msiexec.exe" and process.args : "/V") /* uncomment if psexec
is noisy in your environment */ /* and not process.name :
"PSEXESVC.exe" */ ] by host.id, process.parent.entity_id
Version 4 (8.0.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    sequence with maxspan=1s [network where process.name :
"services.exe" and network.direction : ("incoming", "ingress")
and network.transport == "tcp" and source.port >= 49152 and
destination.port >= 49152 and source.address not in ("127.0.0.1",
"::1") ] by host.id, process.entity_id [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.parent.name :
"services.exe" and not (process.name : "svchost.exe" and
process.args : "tiledatamodelsvc") and not (process.name :
"msiexec.exe" and process.args : "/V") /* uncomment if psexec
is noisy in your environment */ /* and not process.name :
"PSEXESVC.exe" */ ] by host.id, process.parent.entity_id
Version 3 (7.16.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    sequence with maxspan=1s [network where process.name :
"services.exe" and network.direction == "incoming" and
network.transport == "tcp" and source.port >= 49152 and
destination.port >= 49152 and source.address not in ("127.0.0.1",
"::1") ] by host.id, process.entity_id [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.parent.name :
"services.exe" and not (process.name : "svchost.exe" and
process.args : "tiledatamodelsvc") and not (process.name :
"msiexec.exe" and process.args : "/V") /* uncomment if psexec
is noisy in your environment */ /* and not process.name :
"PSEXESVC.exe" */ ] by host.id, process.parent.entity_id
Version 2 (7.12.0 release)
  • Formatting only
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