Suspicious Print Spooler SPL File Created

Last updated 7 months ago on 2025-02-03
Created 5 years ago on 2020-08-14

About

Detects attempts to exploit privilege escalation vulnerabilities related to the Print Spooler service including CVE-2020-1048 and CVE-2020-1337.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationData Source: Elastic EndgameUse Case: VulnerabilityData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
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.file-*endgame-*logs-m365_defender.event-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type != "deletion" and
  file.extension : "spl" and
  file.path : "?:\\Windows\\System32\\spool\\PRINTERS\\*" and
  not process.name : ("spoolsv.exe",
                      "printfilterpipelinesvc.exe",
                      "PrintIsolationHost.exe",
                      "splwow64.exe",
                      "msiexec.exe",
                      "poqexec.exe",
                      "System") and
  not user.id : "S-1-5-18" and
  not process.executable :
            ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe",
             "\\Device\\Mup\\*.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mmc.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\printui.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mstsc.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\spool\\*.exe",
             "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
             "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
             "?:\\PROGRA~1\\*.exe",
             "?:\\PROGRA~2\\*.exe",
             "?:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Suspicious Print Spooler SPL File Created 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).