Persistence via TelemetryController Scheduled Task Hijack

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

Detects the successful hijacking of Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser scheduled task to establish persistence with an integrity level of system.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: high

Risk score: 73

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

• https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/abusing-windows-telemetry-for-persistence/?utm_content=131234033&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-403811306

Tags:

• Elastic
• Host
• Windows
• Threat Detection
• Persistence

Version: 7

Rule authors:

• Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define event.ingested and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate event.ingested to @timestamp for this rule to work.

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
  process.parent.name : "CompatTelRunner.exe" and process.args : "-cv*" and
  not process.name : ("conhost.exe",
                      "DeviceCensus.exe",
                      "CompatTelRunner.exe",
                      "DismHost.exe",
                      "rundll32.exe",
                      "powershell.exe")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

• Tactic:

  • Name: Persistence
  • ID: TA0003
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/

• Technique:

  • Name: Scheduled Task/Job
  • ID: T1053
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/

• Sub-technique:

  • Name: Scheduled Task
  • ID: T1053.005
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/005/