Detect Asynchronous Procedure Call in Splunk
Adversaries may inject malicious code into processes via the asynchronous procedure call (APC) queue in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges. APC injection is commonly performed by attaching malicious code to the APC Queue of a process's thread. Queued APC functions are executed when the thread enters an alterable state. A handle to an existing victim process is first created with native Windows API calls such as OpenThread. At this point QueueUserAPC can be used to invoke a function (such as LoadLibraryA pointing to a malicious DLL). A variation called Early Bird injection involves creating a suspended process in which malicious code is written and executed before the process' entry point via an APC. AtomBombing is another variation that utilizes APCs to invoke malicious code previously written to the global atom table.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Technique
- T1055 Process Injection
- Sub-technique
- T1055.004 Asynchronous Procedure Call
- Canonical reference
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/004/
SPL Detection Query
index=wineventlog sourcetype="XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode=10
| where GrantedAccess IN ("0x1FFFFF", "0x001F0FFF", "0x1F3FFF", "0x1410", "0x143A", "0x1F1FFF")
| rename SourceImage as APCInjector, TargetImage as APCTarget
| eval InjectorName=mvindex(split(APCInjector, "\\"), -1)
| search InjectorName IN ("powershell.exe", "cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "cscript.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") OR NOT APCInjector="C:\\Windows\\*"
| eval EarlyBirdTarget=if(match(APCTarget, "(?i)(svchost|rundll32|EhStorAuthn|ctfmon|conhost|dllhost)\.exe$"), "Yes", "No")
| eval AlertLevel=case(
EarlyBirdTarget="Yes" AND NOT APCInjector="C:\\Windows\\*", "Critical - Likely Early Bird injection",
EarlyBirdTarget="Yes", "High - Suspicious APC target process",
1=1, "Medium - Cross-process access with injection-capable rights"
)
| table _time, host, User, APCInjector, APCTarget, GrantedAccess, EarlyBirdTarget, AlertLevel
| sort - _timeDetects APC injection via Sysmon Event ID 10 (ProcessAccess) with access rights sufficient for QueueUserAPC injection. Identifies cross-process access from suspicious source processes (script interpreters, LOLBins, non-Windows-directory binaries) to common Early Bird target processes. Assigns alert levels based on the combination of injector and target characteristics.
Data Sources
Required Sourcetypes
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate COM/DCOM activation accessing dllhost.exe
- Service Control Manager operations on svchost.exe
- Windows Error Reporting accessing process threads
- System management tools performing health checks on service processes
Other platforms for T1055.004
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 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 1Early Bird Injection - Suspended Process Creation
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: rundll32.exe spawned by PowerShell with empty/minimal CommandLine. This alone is suspicious — rundll32.exe should always have arguments specifying the DLL and function to execute.
- Test 2QueueUserAPC API Call via PowerShell P/Invoke
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: PowerShell execution with the command line. When using the actual API chain: ETW NtQueueApcThread event, Sysmon Event ID 10 (ProcessAccess) with PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS.
- Test 3AtomBombing Variant - Global Atom Table Write
Expected signal: Sysmon Event ID 1: PowerShell execution. ETW: GlobalAddAtomW API call logged. In a full AtomBombing attack, this would be followed by NtQueueApcThread to copy atom data into the target process.
References (6)
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/004/
- https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/desktop/ms681951.aspx
- https://www.cyberbit.com/blog/endpoint-security/new-early-bird-code-injection-technique-discovered/
- https://blog.ensilo.com/atombombing-brand-new-code-injection-for-windows
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1055.004/T1055.004.md
- https://www.endgame.com/blog/technical-blog/ten-process-injection-techniques-technical-survey-common-and-trending-process
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