Techniques
Sample rules
Windows Suspicious Child Process Spawned From WebServer
- source: splunk
- technicques:
Description
The following analytic identifies the execution of suspicious processes typically associated with WebShell activity on web servers.
It detects when processes like cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or bash.exe are spawned by web server processes such as w3wp.exe or nginx.exe.
This behavior is significant as it may indicate an adversary exploiting a web application vulnerability to install a WebShell, providing persistent access and command execution capabilities.
If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow attackers to maintain control over the compromised server, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially escalate privileges or exfiltrate sensitive data.
Detection logic
| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
count max(_time) as lastTime
min(_time) as firstTime
FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes WHERE
Processes.parent_process_name IN (
"apache*.exe",
"caddy.exe",
"frankenphp.exe",
"http*.exe",
"iisexpress.exe",
"java.exe",
"lighttpd.exe",
"nginx*.exe",
"php*.exe",
"roadrunner.exe",
"tomcat*.exe",
"UMWorkerProcess.exe",
"w3wp.exe",
"ws_TomcatService.exe"
)
Processes.process_name IN (
"arp.exe",
"at.exe",
"bitsadmin.exe",
"certutil.exe",
"cscript.exe",
"dsget.exe",
"dsquery.exe",
"find.exe",
"findstr.exe",
"fsutil.exe",
"hostname.exe",
"ipconfig.exe",
"ksh.exe",
"nbstat.exe",
"net.exe",
"net1.exe",
"netdom.exe",
"netsh.exe",
"netstat.exe",
"nltest.exe",
"nslookup.exe",
"ntdsutil.exe",
"pathping.exe",
"perl.exe",
"ping.exe",
"python.exe",
"qprocess.exe",
"query.exe",
"qwinsta.exe",
"reg.exe",
"rundll32.exe",
"sc.exe",
"schtasks.exe",
"scrcons.exe",
"systeminfo.exe",
"tasklist.exe",
"tracert.exe",
"ver.exe",
"vssadmin.exe",
"wevtutil.exe",
"whoami.exe",
"wmic.exe",
"wscript.exe",
"wusa.exe",
"zsh.exe"
)
BY Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name
Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid
Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path
Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user
Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
| `drop_dm_object_name("Processes")`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_suspicious_child_process_spawned_from_webserver_filter`