LoFP LoFP / administrators may create windows services on remote systems, but this activity is usually limited to a small set of hosts or users.

Techniques

Sample rules

Windows Service Creation on Remote Endpoint

Description

The following analytic identifies the creation of a Windows Service on a remote endpoint using sc.exe. It detects this activity by analyzing process execution logs from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line arguments that include remote paths and service creation commands. This behavior is significant because adversaries often exploit the Service Control Manager for lateral movement and remote code execution. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on remote systems, potentially leading to further compromise and persistence within the network.

Detection logic


| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where (Processes.process_name=sc.exe OR Processes.original_file_name=sc.exe) (Processes.process=*\\\\* AND Processes.process=*create* AND Processes.process=*binpath*) by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.process_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `windows_service_creation_on_remote_endpoint_filter`