WMI Permanent Event Subscription - Sysmon

name: WMI Permanent Event Subscription - Sysmon
id: ad05aae6-3b2a-4f73-af97-57bd26cee3b9
version: 10
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Rico Valdez, Michael Haag, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies the creation of WMI permanent event subscriptions, which can be used to establish persistence or perform privilege escalation. It leverages Sysmon data, specifically EventCodes 19, 20, and 21, to detect the creation of WMI EventFilters, EventConsumers, and FilterToConsumerBindings. This activity is significant as it may indicate an attacker setting up mechanisms to execute code with elevated SYSTEM privileges when specific events occur. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to maintain persistence, escalate privileges, and execute arbitrary code, posing a severe threat to the environment.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 21
search: |-
    `sysmon` EventCode=21
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY dest dvc object
           object_attrs object_category object_path
           signature signature_id src
           status user user_id
           vendor_product Consumer ConsumerNoQuotes
           Filter FilterNoQuotes
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `wmi_permanent_event_subscription___sysmon_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you must be collecting Sysmon data using Sysmon version 6.1 or greater and have Sysmon configured to generate alerts for WMI activity (eventID= 19, 20, 21). In addition, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA installed to properly parse the fields.
known_false_positives: Although unlikely, administrators may use event subscriptions for legitimate purposes.
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1546.003/T1546.003.md
    - https://www.eideon.com/2018-03-02-THL03-WMIBackdoors/
    - https://github.com/trustedsec/SysmonCommunityGuide/blob/master/chapters/WMI-events.md
    - https://in.security/2019/04/03/an-intro-into-abusing-and-identifying-wmi-event-subscriptions-for-persistence/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$" and "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$" user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$" and "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$", "$user$") 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: WMI Permanent Event Subscription detected on $dest$ by $user$
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
    threat_objects: []
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Suspicious WMI Use
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1546.003
    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/T1546.003/atomic_red_team/windows-sysmon.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog