sigmamediumHunting

ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection By Uncommon Tool

Detects suspicious local connections via a named pipe to the AD FS configuration database (Windows Internal Database). Used to access information such as the AD FS configuration settings which contains sensitive information used to sign SAML tokens.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1005

collection

Detection Query

selection:
  PipeName: \MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query
filter_main_generic:
  Image|endswith:
    - :\Windows\System32\mmc.exe
    - :\Windows\system32\svchost.exe
    - :\Windows\System32\wsmprovhost.exe
    - :\Windows\SysWOW64\mmc.exe
    - :\Windows\SysWOW64\wsmprovhost.exe
    - :\Windows\WID\Binn\sqlwriter.exe
    - \AzureADConnect.exe
    - \Microsoft.Identity.Health.Adfs.PshSurrogate.exe
    - \Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe
    - \Microsoft.Tri.Sensor.exe
    - \sqlservr.exe
    - \tssdis.exe
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Author

Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g

Created

2021-10-08

Data Sources

windowsNamed Pipe Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.collectionattack.t1005

Raw Content

title: ADFS Database Named Pipe Connection By Uncommon Tool
id: 1ea13e8c-03ea-409b-877d-ce5c3d2c1cb3
status: test
description: |
    Detects suspicious local connections via a named pipe to the AD FS configuration database (Windows Internal Database).
    Used to access information such as the AD FS configuration settings which contains sensitive information used to sign SAML tokens.
references:
    - https://github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel/blob/f99542b94afe0ad2f19a82cc08262e7ac8e1428e/Detections/SecurityEvent/ADFSDBNamedPipeConnection.yaml
    - https://o365blog.com/post/adfs/
    - https://github.com/Azure/SimuLand
author: Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g
date: 2021-10-08
modified: 2023-11-30
tags:
    - attack.collection
    - attack.t1005
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: pipe_created
    definition: 'Note that you have to configure logging for Named Pipe Events in Sysmon config (Event ID 17 and Event ID 18). The basic configuration is in popular sysmon configuration (https://github.com/SwiftOnSecurity/sysmon-config), but it is worth verifying. You can also use other repo, e.g. https://github.com/Neo23x0/sysmon-config, https://github.com/olafhartong/sysmon-modular. How to test detection? You can check powershell script from this site https://svch0st.medium.com/guide-to-named-pipes-and-hunting-for-cobalt-strike-pipes-dc46b2c5f575'
detection:
    selection:
        PipeName: '\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query'
    filter_main_generic:
        Image|endswith:
            - ':\Windows\System32\mmc.exe'
            - ':\Windows\system32\svchost.exe'
            - ':\Windows\System32\wsmprovhost.exe'
            - ':\Windows\SysWOW64\mmc.exe'
            - ':\Windows\SysWOW64\wsmprovhost.exe'
            - ':\Windows\WID\Binn\sqlwriter.exe'
            - '\AzureADConnect.exe'
            - '\Microsoft.Identity.Health.Adfs.PshSurrogate.exe'
            - '\Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe'
            - '\Microsoft.Tri.Sensor.exe'
            - '\sqlservr.exe'
            - '\tssdis.exe'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium