Windows Access Token Winlogon Duplicate Handle In Uncommon Path

name: Windows Access Token Winlogon Duplicate Handle In Uncommon Path
id: b8f7ed6b-0556-4c84-bffd-839c262b0278
version: 10
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects a process attempting to duplicate the handle of winlogon.exe from an uncommon or public source path. This is identified using Sysmon EventCode 10, focusing on processes targeting winlogon.exe with specific access rights and excluding common system paths. This activity is significant because it may indicate an adversary trying to escalate privileges by leveraging the high-privilege tokens associated with winlogon.exe. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to gain elevated access, potentially leading to full system compromise and persistent control over the affected host.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 10
search: '`sysmon` EventCode=10  TargetImage IN("*\\system32\\winlogon.exe*", "*\\SysWOW64\\winlogon.exe*") AND GrantedAccess = 0x1040 AND NOT (SourceImage IN("C:\\Windows\\*", "C:\\Program File*", "%systemroot%\\*")) | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by CallTrace EventID GrantedAccess Guid Opcode ProcessID SecurityID SourceImage SourceProcessGUID SourceProcessId TargetImage TargetProcessGUID TargetProcessId UserID dest granted_access parent_process_exec parent_process_guid parent_process_id parent_process_name parent_process_path process_exec process_guid process_id process_name process_path signature signature_id user_id vendor_product | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_access_token_winlogon_duplicate_handle_in_uncommon_path_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you must be ingesting data that records process activity from your hosts to populate the endpoint data model in the processes node. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: It is possible legitimate applications will request access to winlogon, filter as needed.
references:
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/handleapi/nf-handleapi-duplicatehandle
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1134/001/
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: A process $SourceImage$ is duplicating the handle token of winlogon.exe on $dest$
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
    threat_objects:
        - field: SourceImage
          type: process_name
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Brute Ratel C4
        - PathWiper
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1134.001
    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/malware/brute_ratel/brute_duplicate_token/sysmon.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog