Windows Raw Access To Master Boot Record Drive

name: Windows Raw Access To Master Boot Record Drive
id: 7b83f666-900c-11ec-a2d9-acde48001122
version: 11
date: '2026-03-16'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects suspicious raw access reads to the drive containing the Master Boot Record (MBR). It leverages Sysmon EventCode 9 to identify processes attempting to read or write to the MBR sector, excluding legitimate system processes. This activity is significant because adversaries often target the MBR to wipe, encrypt, or overwrite it as part of their impact payload. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to system instability, data loss, or a complete system compromise, severely impacting the organization's operations.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 9
search: '`sysmon` EventCode=9 Device = \\Device\\Harddisk0\\DR0 NOT (Image IN("*\\Windows\\System32\\*", "*\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\*")) | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by dest dvc process_exec process_guid process_id process_name process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product Device Image | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_raw_access_to_master_boot_record_drive_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the raw access read event (like sysmon eventcode 9), process name and process guid from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: There are som minimal number of normal applications from system32 folder like svchost.exe accessing the MBR. In this case we used 'system32' and 'syswow64' path as a filter for this detection.
references:
    - https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security/threat-advisory-strt-ta02-destructive-software.html
    - https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/technical-analysis-of-whispergate-malware/
    - https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/01/15/destructive-malware-targeting-ukrainian-organizations/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") 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: process accessing MBR $Device$ on $dest$
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects: []
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - CISA AA22-264A
        - WhisperGate
        - Graceful Wipe Out Attack
        - Data Destruction
        - Hermetic Wiper
        - Caddy Wiper
        - BlackByte Ransomware
        - NjRAT
        - Disk Wiper
        - PathWiper
        - Void Manticore
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1561.002
    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/T1561.002/mbr_raw_access/sysmon.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog