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Windows Network Access Suspicious desktop.ini Action

Detects unusual processes accessing desktop.ini remotely over network share, which can be leveraged to alter how Explorer displays a folder's content (i.e. renaming files) without changing them on disk.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1547.009
privilege-escalationpersistence

Detection Query

selection:
  EventID: 5145
  ObjectType: File
  RelativeTargetName|endswith: \desktop.ini
  AccessList|contains:
    - WriteData
    - DELETE
    - WriteDAC
    - AppendData
    - AddSubdirectory
condition: selection

Author

Tim Shelton (HAWK.IO)

Created

2021-12-06

Data Sources

windowssecurity

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.privilege-escalationattack.persistenceattack.t1547.009
Raw Content
title: Windows Network Access Suspicious desktop.ini Action
id: 35bc7e28-ee6b-492f-ab04-da58fcf6402e
status: test
description: Detects unusual processes accessing desktop.ini remotely over network share, which can be leveraged to alter how Explorer displays a folder's content (i.e. renaming files) without changing them on disk.
references:
    - https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Desktopini+as+a+postexploitation+tool/25912/
author: Tim Shelton (HAWK.IO)
date: 2021-12-06
modified: 2022-01-16
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.t1547.009
logsource:
    product: windows
    service: security
detection:
    selection:
        EventID: 5145
        ObjectType: File
        RelativeTargetName|endswith: '\desktop.ini'
        AccessList|contains:
            - 'WriteData'
            - 'DELETE'
            - 'WriteDAC'
            - 'AppendData'
            - 'AddSubdirectory'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Read only access list authority
level: medium