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SolarWinds Process Disabling Services via Registry

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SolarWinds Process Disabling Services via Registry

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Identifies a SolarWinds binary modifying the start type of a service to be disabled. An adversary may abuse this technique to manipulate relevant security services.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

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

References:

https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/12/evasive-attacker-leverages-solarwinds-supply-chain-compromises-with-sunburst-backdoor.html

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Defense Evasion
Elastic Endgame

Version: 101 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.6.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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Rule query

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registry where registry.path : (
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start",
"\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start" )
and registry.data.strings : ("4", "0x00000004") and process.name :
( "SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost*.exe",
"ConfigurationWizard*.exe", "NetflowDatabaseMaintenance*.exe",
"NetFlowService*.exe", "SolarWinds.Administration*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Collector.Service*.exe",
"SolarwindsDiagnostics*.exe")

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Impair Defenses
- ID: T1562
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/
Tactic:
- Name: Initial Access
- ID: TA0001
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0001/
Technique:
- Name: Supply Chain Compromise
- ID: T1195
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1195/

Rule version history

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Version 101 (8.6.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

registry where registry.path :
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start" and
registry.data.strings : ("4", "0x00000004") and process.name : (
"SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost*.exe", "ConfigurationWizard*.exe",
"NetflowDatabaseMaintenance*.exe", "NetFlowService*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Administration*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Collector.Service*.exe" ,
"SolarwindsDiagnostics*.exe")

Version 100 (8.5.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 7 (8.4.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

registry where registry.path :
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start" and
registry.data.strings : ("4", "0x00000004") and process.name : (
"SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost*.exe",
"ConfigurationWizard*.exe", "NetflowDatabaseMaintenance*.exe",
"NetFlowService*.exe", "SolarWinds.Administration*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Collector.Service*.exe" ,
"SolarwindsDiagnostics*.exe")

Version 5 (8.2.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 4 (8.1.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

registry where registry.path :
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\Start" and
registry.data.strings == "4" and process.name : (
"SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost*.exe", "ConfigurationWizard*.exe",
"NetflowDatabaseMaintenance*.exe", "NetFlowService*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Administration*.exe",
"SolarWinds.Collector.Service*.exe" ,
"SolarwindsDiagnostics*.exe")

Version 3 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 2 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

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