Elastic Security Detection Rules

Remote Computer Account DnsHostName Update

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 3 years ago on 2022-05-11

About

Identifies the remote update to a computer account's DnsHostName attribute. If the new value set is a valid domain controller DNS hostname and the subject computer name is not a domain controller, then it's highly likely a preparation step to exploit CVE-2022-26923 in an attempt to elevate privileges from a standard domain user to domain admin privileges.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationUse Case: Active Directory MonitoringData Source: Active DirectoryUse Case: VulnerabilityData Source: Windows Security Event LogsLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Valid Accounts (T1078)(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-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

system(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
iam where event.action == "changed-computer-account" and user.id : ("S-1-5-21-*", "S-1-12-1-*") and

    /* if DnsHostName value equal a DC DNS hostname then it's highly suspicious */
    winlog.event_data.DnsHostName : "??*" and

    /* exclude FPs where DnsHostName starts with the ComputerName that was changed */
    not startswith~(winlog.event_data.DnsHostName, substring(winlog.event_data.TargetUserName, 0, length(winlog.event_data.TargetUserName) - 1))

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Remote Computer Account DnsHostName Update 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).