Detection rules › Sigma

PUA - Kernel Driver Utility (KDU) Execution

Severity
high
Author
Matt Anderson, Dray Agha, Anna Pham (Huntress)
Source
upstream

Detects execution of the Kernel Driver Utility (KDU) tool. KDU can be used to bypass driver signature enforcement and load unsigned or malicious drivers into the Windows kernel. Potentially allowing for privilege escalation, persistence, or evasion of security controls.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1543.003 Create or Modify System Process: Windows Service
Privilege EscalationT1543.003 Create or Modify System Process: Windows Service

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon1Process creation

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: all of selection_img

or:
Image|endswith: '\hamakaze.exe'
Image|endswith: '\kdu.exe'
OriginalFileName: hamakaze.exe

Stage 2: all of selection_cli_suspicious

or:
CommandLine|contains: '-dse '
CommandLine|contains: '-map '
CommandLine|contains: '-prv '
CommandLine|contains: '-ps '

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
CommandLinematch
  • -dse
  • -map
  • -prv
  • -ps
Imageends_with
  • \hamakaze.exe
  • \kdu.exe
OriginalFileNameeq
  • hamakaze.exe