Detection rules › Splunk

Detect RTLO In File Name

Author
Steven Dick
Source
upstream

The following analytic identifies the use of the right-to-left override (RTLO) character in file names. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Filesystem datamodel, specifically focusing on file creation events and file names containing the RTLO character (U+202E). This activity is significant because adversaries use RTLO to disguise malicious files as benign by reversing the text that follows the character. If confirmed malicious, this technique can deceive users and security tools, leading to the execution of harmful files and potential system compromise.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Defense EvasionT1036.002 Masquerading: Right-to-Left Override

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon11FileCreate

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: tstats

tstats WHERE Filesystem.file_name!="unknown" 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: regex

regex match(file_name, "\\x{202E}")

Stage 6: rex

rex field=file_name ...

Stage 7: eval

eval ... using (file_name)

Stage 8: eval

eval ... using (RTLO_file_1, RTLO_file_2)

Stage 9: fields

fields RTLO*

Stage 10: 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.

FieldKindValues
Filesystem.file_namene
  • unknown
file_nameregex_match
  • "\\x{202E}"