Privileges Elevation via Parent Process PID Spoofing

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

About

Identifies parent process spoofing used to create an elevated child process. Adversaries may spoof the parent process identifier (PPID) of a new process to evade process-monitoring defenses or to elevate privileges.
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 compatible with Elastic Endpoint only */

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

 /* process creation via seclogon */
 process.parent.Ext.real.pid > 0 and

 /* PrivEsc to SYSTEM */
 user.id : "S-1-5-18"  and

 /* Common FPs - evasion via hollowing is possible, should be covered by code injection */
 not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFaultSecure.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFaultSecure.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Wermgr.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\Wermgr.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\SoftwareDistribution\\Download\\Install\\securityhealthsetup.exe") and
 /* Logon Utilities */
 not (process.parent.executable : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Utilman.exe" and
     process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\osk.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Narrator.exe",
                           "?:\\Windows\\System32\\Magnify.exe")) and

 not process.parent.executable : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\AtBroker.exe" and

 not (process.code_signature.subject_name in
           ("philandro Software GmbH", "Freedom Scientific Inc.", "TeamViewer Germany GmbH", "Projector.is, Inc.",
            "TeamViewer GmbH", "Cisco WebEx LLC", "Dell Inc") and process.code_signature.trusted == true) and

 /* AM_Delta_Patch Windows Update */
 not (process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\MpSigStub.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\MpSigStub.exe") and
      process.parent.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\wuauclt.exe",
                                   "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wuauclt.exe",
                                   "?:\\Windows\\UUS\\Packages\\Preview\\*\\wuaucltcore.exe",
                                   "?:\\Windows\\UUS\\amd64\\wuauclt.exe",
                                   "?:\\Windows\\UUS\\amd64\\wuaucltcore.exe",
                                   "?:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\UUS\\*\\wuaucltcore.exe")) and
 not (process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\MpSigStub.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\MpSigStub.exe") and process.parent.executable == null) and

 /* Other third party SW */
 not process.parent.executable :
                   ("?:\\Program Files (x86)\\HEAT Software\\HEAT Remote\\HEATRemoteServer.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\VisualCron\\VisualCronService.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files\\BinaryDefense\\Vision\\Agent\\bds-vision-agent-app.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files\\Tablet\\Wacom\\WacomHost.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\LogMeIn\\x64\\LogMeIn.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\EMC Captiva\\Captiva Cloud Runtime\\Emc.Captiva.WebCaptureRunner.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files\\Freedom Scientific\\*.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome Remote Desktop\\*\\remoting_host.exe",
                    "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\GoToAssist Remote Support Customer\\*\\g2ax_comm_customer.exe") and
 not (
    process.code_signature.trusted == true and process.code_signature.subject_name == "Netwrix Corporation" and
    process.name : "adcrcpy.exe" and process.parent.executable : (
      "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\Netwrix Auditor\\Active Directory Auditing\\Netwrix.ADA.EventCollector.exe",
      "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\Netwrix Auditor\\Active Directory Auditing\\Netwrix.ADA.Analyzer.exe",
      "?:\\Netwrix Auditor\\Active Directory Auditing\\Netwrix.ADA.EventCollector.exe"
    )
 )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Privileges Elevation via Parent Process PID Spoofing 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).