Detection rules › Splunk

Windows Snake Malware Kernel Driver Comadmin

Author
Michael Haag, Splunk
Source
upstream

The following analytic detects the creation of the comadmin.dat file in the %windows%\system32\Com directory, which is associated with Snake Malware. This detection leverages the Endpoint.Filesystem data model to identify file creation events matching the specified path and filename. This activity is significant because the comadmin.dat file is part of Snake Malware's installation process, which includes dropping a kernel driver and a custom DLL. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to load a malicious driver, potentially leading to privilege escalation and persistent access to the compromised system.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1547.006 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Kernel Modules and Extensions
Privilege EscalationT1547.006 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Kernel Modules and Extensions

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Sysmon11FileCreate

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: tstats

tstats WHERE Filesystem.file_name="comadmin.dat" Filesystem.file_path="*\\windows\\system32\\com\\*" 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.

FieldKindValues
Filesystem.file_nameeq
  • "comadmin.dat"
Filesystem.file_patheq
  • "*\\windows\\system32\\com\\*"