name: Windows Command Shell Fetch Env Variables
id: 048839e4-1eaa-43ff-8a22-86d17f6fcc13
version: 1
date: '2022-10-27'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies a suspicious process command line fetching
  the environment variables with a non-shell parent process. This technique was seen
  in qakbot malware where it fetches the environment variable in the target or compromised
  host. This TTP detection is a good pivot of possible malicious behavior since the
  command line is executed by a common non-shell process like cmd.exe , powershell.exe
  and many more. This can also be a good sign that the parent process has a malicious
  code injected to it to execute this command.
data_source:
- Sysmon Event ID 1
search: '| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time)
  as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.process = "*cmd /c
  set" OR Processes.process = "*cmd.exe /c set" AND NOT (Processes.parent_process_name
  = "cmd.exe" OR Processes.parent_process_name = "powershell*" OR Processes.parent_process_name="pwsh.exe"
  OR Processes.parent_process_name = "explorer.exe") by Processes.dest Processes.user
  Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id
  Processes.parent_process_id Processes.original_file_name | `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
  | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_command_shell_fetch_env_variables_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information
  on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from
  your endpoints into the `Endpoint` datamodel in the `Processes` node. In addition,
  confirm the latest CIM App 4.20 or higher is installed and the latest TA for the
  endpoint product.
known_false_positives: shell process that are not included in this search may cause
  False positive. Filter is needed.
references:
- https://twitter.com/pr0xylife/status/1585612370441031680?s=46&t=Dc3CJi4AnM-8rNoacLbScg
tags:
  analytic_story:
  - Qakbot
  asset_type: Endpoint
  confidence: 70
  impact: 80
  message: non-shell parent process has a child process $process_name$ with a commandline
    $process$ to fetch env variables in $dest$
  mitre_attack_id:
  - T1055
  observable:
  - name: dest
    type: Endpoint
    role:
    - Victim
  product:
  - Splunk Enterprise
  - Splunk Enterprise Security
  - Splunk Cloud
  required_fields:
  - _time
  - Processes.dest
  - Processes.user
  - Processes.parent_process_name
  - Processes.parent_process
  - Processes.original_file_name
  - Processes.process_name
  - Processes.process
  - Processes.process_id
  - Processes.parent_process_path
  - Processes.process_path
  - Processes.parent_process_id
  risk_score: 56
  security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
  attack_data:
  - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/malware/qakbot/qbot_wermgr/sysmon_wermgr.log
    source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
    sourcetype: xmlwineventlog
    update_timestamp: true