Windows Chromium Browser No Security Sandbox Process

name: Windows Chromium Browser No Security Sandbox Process
id: 314cb263-7eeb-4d45-b693-bb21699c73d2
version: 3
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: |
    The following analytic detects instances where a Chrome or Chromium-based browser is launched with the --no-sandbox flag, a known indicator of potentially malicious or suspicious behavior. While this flag is occasionally used during software development or testing, it is rarely seen in normal user activity. Threat actors often abuse this setting to disable Chrome's built-in security sandbox, making it easier to execute malicious code or escape browser isolation. This behavior is commonly observed in malware droppers or loaders that embed Chromium components for command and control, credential theft, or UI spoofing. Analysts should investigate such events, especially if they originate from unusual parent processes (e.g., powershell.exe, cmd.exe, or unknown binaries), or if accompanied by other indicators such as file drops, process injection, or outbound network activity. Filtering by command-line arguments and process ancestry can help reduce false positives and surface high-fidelity detections.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 1
    - Windows Event Log Security 4688
    - CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search: |
    | tstats `security_content_summariesonly` min(_time) as firstTime max(_time)
    as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where
    Processes.process_name IN ("Chrome.exe","Brave.exe", "Opera.exe", "Vivaldi.exe", "msedge.exe")
    Processes.process = "*--no-sandbox*"
    by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process
    Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id
    Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path Processes.process Processes.process_exec
    Processes.process_guid Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
    Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
    | `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `windows_chromium_browser_no_security_sandbox_process_filter`
how_to_implement: |
    To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information
    on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from
    your endpoints into the `Endpoint` datamodel in the `Processes` node. In addition,
    confirm the latest CIM App 4.20 or higher is installed and the latest TA for the
    endpoint product.
known_false_positives: Administrators may enable or disable this feature that may cause some false positive.
references:
    - https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/68832/what-does-the-chromium-option-no-sandbox-mean
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: A chromium process with the --no-sandbox flag was launched on $dest$ by user $user$.
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: parent_process_name
          type: parent_process_name
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Malicious Inno Setup Loader
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1497
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1497/chrom_no_sandbox/chrome-no_sandbox.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog