Process Created with an Elevated Token

Last updated 7 months ago on 2025-01-15
Created 3 years ago on 2022-10-20

About

Identifies the creation of a process running as SYSTEM and impersonating a Windows core binary privileges. Adversaries may create a new process with a different token to escalate privileges and bypass access controls.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.process-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
/* This rule is only compatible with Elastic Endpoint 8.4+ */

process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action == "start" and

 /* CreateProcessWithToken and effective parent is a privileged MS native binary used as a target for token theft */
 user.id : "S-1-5-18"  and

 /* Token Theft target process usually running as service are located in one of the following paths */
 process.Ext.effective_parent.executable :
                ("?:\\Windows\\*.exe",
                 "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
                 "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
                 "?:\\ProgramData\\*") and

/* Ignores Utility Manager in Windows running in debug mode */
 not (process.Ext.effective_parent.executable : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Utilman.exe" and
      process.parent.executable : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Utilman.exe" and process.parent.args : "/debug") and

/* Ignores Windows print spooler service with correlation to Access Intelligent Form */
not (process.parent.executable : "?\\Windows\\System32\\spoolsv.exe" and
     process.executable: "?:\\Program Files*\\Access\\Intelligent Form\\*\\LaunchCreate.exe") and

/* Ignores Windows error reporting executables */
 not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFaultSecure.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFaultSecure.exe",
                           "?:\\windows\\system32\\WerMgr.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\Install\\securityhealthsetup.exe")  and

 /* Ignores Windows updates from TiWorker.exe that runs with elevated privileges */
 not (process.parent.executable : "?:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\*\\TiWorker.exe" and
      process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework*.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\*.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\inetsrv\\iissetup.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\inetsrv\\iissetup.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\inetsrv\\aspnetca.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\inetsrv\\aspnetca.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\lodctr.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\lodctr.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\System32\\netcfg.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework*\\*\\ngen.exe",
                            "?:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework*\\*\\aspnet_regiis.exe")) and


/* Ignores additional parent executables that run with elevated privileges */
 not process.parent.executable :
               ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\AtBroker.exe",
                "?:\\Windows\\system32\\svchost.exe",
                "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
                "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
                "?:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
                "?:\\Windows\\System32\\DriverStore\\*") and

/* Ignores Windows binaries with a trusted signature and specific signature name */
 not (process.code_signature.trusted == true and
      process.code_signature.subject_name :
                ("philandro Software GmbH",
                 "Freedom Scientific Inc.",
                 "TeamViewer Germany GmbH",
                 "Projector.is, Inc.",
                 "TeamViewer GmbH",
                 "Cisco WebEx LLC",
                 "Dell Inc"))

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Process Created with an Elevated Token in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).