splunk_escuAnomaly

Windows Chromium process Launched with Disable Popup Blocking

The following analytic detects instances where a Windows Chromium-based browser process is launched with the `--disable-popup-blocking` flag. This flag is typically used to bypass the browser’s built-in pop-up protections, allowing automatic execution of pop-ups or redirects without user interaction. While legitimate in some testing or automation scenarios, its presence on endpoints, particularly when combined with other automation or concealment flags, may indicate attempts by malicious actors to execute web-based content stealthily or evade user interaction controls, representing a potential security risk that warrants investigation.

Detection Query

| 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 = "*--disable-popup-blocking*"
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_process_launched_with_disable_popup_blocking_filter`

Author

Teoderick Contreras, Splunk

Data Sources

Sysmon EventID 1Windows Event Log Security 4688CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2

References

Raw Content

name: Windows Chromium process Launched with Disable Popup Blocking
id: 95f8acd6-978e-42d6-99c1-85baacdd2b46
version: 5
creation_date: '2026-02-02'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects instances where a Windows Chromium-based browser process is launched with the `--disable-popup-blocking` flag. This flag is typically used to bypass the browser’s built-in pop-up protections, allowing automatic execution of pop-ups or redirects without user interaction. While legitimate in some testing or automation scenarios, its presence on endpoints, particularly when combined with other automation or concealment flags, may indicate attempts by malicious actors to execute web-based content stealthily or evade user interaction controls, representing a potential security risk that warrants investigation.
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 = "*--disable-popup-blocking*"
    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_process_launched_with_disable_popup_blocking_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 for framework testing that may cause some false positive.
references:
    - https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/26/a/analysis-of-the-evelyn-stealer-campaign.html
    - https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/
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 ("$user$", "$dest$") | 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: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: A Chromium-based browser process $process_name$ was launched by $parent_process_name$ on $dest$ by the user $user$ with the command-line $process$.
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: A Chromium-based browser process $process_name$ was launched by $parent_process_name$ on $dest$ by the user $user$ with the command-line $process$.
threat_objects:
    - field: parent_process
      type: parent_process
    - field: parent_process_name
      type: parent_process_name
    - field: process
      type: process
analytic_story:
    - Browser Hijacking
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1497
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1497/chrome_disable_popup/chrome_disable_popup.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit