Detection rules › Splunk

Rundll32 CreateRemoteThread In Browser

Author
Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
Source
upstream

The following analytic detects the suspicious creation of a remote thread by rundll32.exe targeting browser processes such as firefox.exe, chrome.exe, iexplore.exe, and microsoftedgecp.exe. This detection leverages Sysmon EventCode 8, focusing on SourceImage and TargetImage fields to identify the behavior. This activity is significant as it is commonly associated with malware like IcedID, which hooks browsers to steal sensitive information such as banking details. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to intercept and exfiltrate sensitive user data, leading to potential financial loss and privacy breaches.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Privilege EscalationT1055 Process Injection
Defense EvasionT1055 Process Injection

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon8CreateRemoteThread

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

search EventCode=8 SourceImage="*\\rundll32.exe" TargetImage IN ("*\\chrome.exe", "*\\firefox.exe", "*\\iexplore.exe", "*\\microsoftedgecp.exe")

Stage 2: stats

stats BY EventID, Guid, NewThreadId, ProcessID, SecurityID, SourceImage, SourceProcessGuid, SourceProcessId, StartAddress, StartFunction, StartModule, TargetImage, TargetProcessGuid, TargetProcessId, UserID, dest, parent_process_exec, parent_process_guid, parent_process_id, parent_process_name, parent_process_path, process_exec, process_guid, process_id, process_name, process_path, signature, signature_id, user_id, vendor_product

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.

FieldKindValues
EventCodeeq
  • 8 corpus 8 (splunk 8)
SourceImageeq
  • "*\\rundll32.exe" corpus 2 (splunk 2)
TargetImagein
  • "*\\chrome.exe" corpus 3 (splunk 3)
  • "*\\firefox.exe" corpus 3 (splunk 3)
  • "*\\iexplore.exe" corpus 2 (splunk 2)
  • "*\\microsoftedgecp.exe" corpus 2 (splunk 2)