Crowdstrike Privilege Escalation For Non-Admin User

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

The following analytic detects CrowdStrike alerts for privilege escalation attempts by non-admin users. These alerts indicate unauthorized efforts by regular users to gain elevated permissions, posing a significant security risk. Detecting and addressing these attempts promptly helps prevent potential breaches and ensures that user privileges remain properly managed, maintaining the integrity of the organization's security protocols.

name: Crowdstrike Privilege Escalation For Non-Admin User
id: 69e2860c-0e4b-40ae-9dc4-bf9e3bf2a548
version: 9
creation_date: '2024-07-31'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic detects CrowdStrike alerts for privilege escalation attempts by non-admin users. These alerts indicate unauthorized efforts by regular users to gain elevated permissions, posing a significant security risk. Detecting and addressing these attempts promptly helps prevent potential breaches and ensures that user privileges remain properly managed, maintaining the integrity of the organization's security protocols.
data_source: []
search: |-
    `crowdstrike_stream` tag=alert
      | rename event.EndpointIp as src_ip, event.EndpointName as src_host, event.UserName as user, event.IncidentDescription as description, event.IncidentType as type, event.NumbersOfAlerts as count_alerts, event.SeverityName as severity
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY src_ip, src_host, user,
           description, type, count_alerts,
           severity
      | where LIKE(type,"%Privilege escalation%") AND NOT LIKE(user, "%adm%") AND NOT LIKE(user, "%svc%") AND NOT LIKE(user, "%admin%")
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `crowdstrike_privilege_escalation_for_non_admin_user_filter`
how_to_implement: To implement CrowdStrike stream JSON logs, use the Falcon Streaming API. Set up an API client, authenticate with your CrowdStrike credentials, and subscribe to the "CrowdStrike:Event:Streams:JSON" event stream. Process and store the JSON logs as needed, integrating them into your logging or SIEM system for monitoring and analysis.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://www.crowdstrike.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CrowdStrike-Falcon-Event-Streams-Add-on-Guide-v3.pdf
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") | 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: A Privilege escalation happened in Non-Admin Account in $src_host$
analytic_story:
    - Compromised Windows Host
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1110
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/suspicious_behaviour/crowdstrike_stream/privilege_escalation/crowdstrike_priv_esc_cleaned.log
          sourcetype: CrowdStrike:Event:Streams:JSON
          source: CrowdStrike:Event:Streams
      description: PORTED MANUAL TEST - This detection is marked manual test because the attack_data file and TA do not provide the event.EndpointIp and event.EndpointName fields. event.EndpointName is required to be present for the Risk Message Validation Integration Testing. This will be investigated and is a tracked issue.
      test_type: experimental

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23f1d306-07ee-455a-8c6a-2fce6e06cc7e

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