Windows Wmic CPU Discovery

SPLUNK detection rule by Teoderick Contreras, Splunk · Apache-2.0

The following analytic detects the use of WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) for CPU discovery, often executed with commands such as “wmic cpu get name” This behavior is commonly associated with reconnaissance, where adversaries seek to gather details about system hardware, assess processing power, or determine if the environment is virtualized. While WMIC is a legitimate administrative tool, its use for CPU queries outside of normal inventory or management scripts can indicate malicious intent. Monitoring command-line executions of WMIC with CPU-related arguments and correlating with other discovery activity can help identify attacker reconnaissance.

name: Windows Wmic CPU Discovery
id: 6fc46cae-a8c0-4296-b07a-8e52d4322587
version: 5
creation_date: '2021-05-07'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects the use of WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) for CPU discovery, often executed with commands such as “wmic cpu get name” This behavior is commonly associated with reconnaissance, where adversaries seek to gather details about system hardware, assess processing power, or determine if the environment is virtualized. While WMIC is a legitimate administrative tool, its use for CPU queries outside of normal inventory or management scripts can indicate malicious intent. Monitoring command-line executions of WMIC with CPU-related arguments and correlating with other discovery activity can help identify attacker reconnaissance.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 1
    - Windows Event Log Security 4688
    - CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search: |-
    | tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
      WHERE `process_wmic` (Processes.process="* cpu*")
      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_wmic_cpu_discovery_filter`
how_to_implement: The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the `Processes` node of the `Endpoint` data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.
known_false_positives: Administrators may execute this command for testing or auditing.
references:
    - https://cert.gov.ua/article/6284730
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: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$ attempting to gather CPU information.
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 20
          message: An instance of $parent_process_name$ spawning $process_name$ was identified on endpoint $dest$ by user $user$ attempting to gather CPU information.
threat_objects:
    - field: parent_process_name
      type: parent_process_name
    - field: process_name
      type: process_name
analytic_story:
    - LAMEHUG
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1082
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/malware/lamehug/T1082/wmic_cmd/wmic_cmd.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit

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