Detection rules › Splunk
Detect Exchange Web Shell
The following analytic identifies the creation of suspicious .aspx files in known drop locations for Exchange exploitation, specifically targeting paths associated with HAFNIUM group and vulnerabilities like ProxyShell and ProxyNotShell. It leverages data from the Endpoint datamodel, focusing on process and filesystem events. This activity is significant as it may indicate a web shell deployment, a common method for persistent access and remote code execution. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain unauthorized access, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially escalate privileges within the Exchange environment.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Initial Access | T1133 External Remote Services, T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application |
| Persistence | T1133 External Remote Services, T1505.003 Server Software Component: Web Shell |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | 11 | FileCreate |
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: tstats
tstats WHERE Filesystem.file_name IN ("*.ashx", "*.aspx") Filesystem.file_path IN ("*\\HttpProxy\\OAB\\*", "*\\HttpProxy\\owa\\auth\\*", "*\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\aspnet_client\\*") BY Filesystem.action, Filesystem.dest, Filesystem.file_access_time, Filesystem.file_create_time, Filesystem.file_hash, Filesystem.file_modify_time, Filesystem.file_name, Filesystem.file_path, Filesystem.file_acl, Filesystem.file_size, Filesystem.process_guid, Filesystem.process_id, Filesystem.user, Filesystem.vendor_product
Stage 2: search
search
Stage 3: search
search
Stage 4: search
search
Stage 5: search
search `macro`
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.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
Filesystem.file_name | in |
|
Filesystem.file_path | in |
|