Detect System Owner/User Discovery in Google Chronicle
Adversaries may attempt to identify the primary user, currently logged in user, set of users that commonly uses a system, or whether a user is actively using the system. They may do this by retrieving account usernames via built-in OS utilities such as whoami, query user, qwinsta, w, who, and id, or by querying environment variables, WMI, and Active Directory. The information is used during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors — determining whether to fully deploy a payload, escalate privileges, or target a specific high-value user account.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic
- Discovery
- Technique
- T1033 System Owner/User Discovery
- Canonical reference
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1033/
YARA-L Detection Query
rule T1033_System_Owner_User_Discovery {
meta:
author = "Argus Detection Engineering"
description = "Detects T1033 System Owner/User Discovery via execution of user enumeration utilities with suspicious parent process or elevated privilege context"
mitre_attack_tactic = "Discovery"
mitre_attack_technique = "T1033"
mitre_attack_url = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1033/"
severity = "MEDIUM"
confidence = "HIGH"
events:
$e.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
(
(
re.regex($e.target.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\whoami\.exe$`) and
re.regex($e.target.process.command_line, `(?i).*(/all|/groups|/priv|/fo).*`)
) or
re.regex($e.target.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\(query|qwinsta|quser)\.exe$`) or
(
re.regex($e.target.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\wmic\.exe$`) and
re.regex($e.target.process.command_line, `(?i).*(useraccount).*`)
) or
(
re.regex($e.target.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\net1?\.exe$`) and
re.regex($e.target.process.command_line, `(?i).*(user\s+/domain|localgroup\s+administrators|group\s+/domain).*`)
) or
(
re.regex($e.target.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\(powershell|pwsh)\.exe$`) and
re.regex($e.target.process.command_line, `(?i).*(Get-LocalUser|Get-ADUser|Win32_UserAccount|WindowsIdentity|whoami).*`)
)
)
(
re.regex($e.principal.process.file.full_path, `(?i).*\\(cmd|powershell|pwsh|wscript|cscript|mshta|rundll32|regsvr32|schtasks|msbuild|installutil)\.exe$`) or
re.regex($e.principal.user.userid, `(?i).*(system|administrator|admin).*`) or
re.regex($e.target.process.command_line, `(?i).*(/all|/groups|/priv|/fo|useraccount|Get-LocalUser|Get-ADUser|WindowsIdentity|user\s*/domain|localgroup administrators).*`)
)
condition:
$e
} Chronicle YARA-L 2.0 rule detecting T1033 System Owner/User Discovery. Matches PROCESS_LAUNCH UDM events where a user discovery binary (whoami, query, qwinsta, quser, wmic, net, powershell) is executed with suspicious flags or from a suspicious parent process. Correlates principal process (parent) context with target process (child) command line to reduce false positives from bare whoami invocations.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate system health check scripts invoked from cmd.exe or PowerShell that use whoami or Get-LocalUser to validate service account permissions during automated maintenance windows
- Enterprise monitoring agents such as Splunk Universal Forwarder, Elastic Agent, or SolarWinds that run periodic user context checks using wmic or PowerShell cmdlets
- Developer workstations where build automation tools (MSBuild, InstallUtil) spawn PowerShell to query the current user context for path resolution or permission checks during software compilation
Other platforms for T1033
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 5 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1Whoami Full Enumeration
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=C:\Windows\System32\whoami.exe, CommandLine='whoami /all', ParentImage=cmd.exe or calling shell. Security Event ID 4688 if command line auditing is enabled. No network events expected.
- Test 2Query Active User Sessions
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=C:\Windows\System32\query.exe, CommandLine='query user'. Alternatively may appear as quser.exe. Security Event ID 4688 with command line auditing enabled.
- Test 3WMI User Account Enumeration
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=C:\Windows\System32\wbem\wmic.exe, CommandLine containing 'useraccount get'. No network events if targeting local system. Security Event ID 4688 with full command line if auditing is enabled.
- Test 4Linux Multi-Command User Discovery
Expected signal: Linux auditd: SYSCALL records for execve of /usr/bin/whoami, /usr/bin/id, /usr/bin/w, /usr/bin/who, /usr/bin/last, /bin/cat with respective arguments. Syslog entries if auditd is configured to log to syslog. On systems with Sysmon for Linux: EventType=ProcessCreate for each command.
- Test 5PowerShell Active Directory User Enumeration
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: Process Create with Image=powershell.exe, CommandLine containing 'Get-WmiObject' and 'Win32_UserAccount'. PowerShell ScriptBlock Logging Event ID 4104 in Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational log with full script content. No AD network queries for local account enumeration.
References (10)
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1033/
- https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/advanced-hunting-deviceprocessevents-table
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1033/T1033.md
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_whoami_execution.yml
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/karagany-backdoor
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2020/04/poetrat-covid-19-lures.html
- https://www.cybereason.com/blog/research/dropping-anchor-from-a-trickbot-infection-to-the-discovery-of-the-anchor-malware
- https://securelist.com/shadowpad-in-corporate-networks/81432/
- https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-239a
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