Rare Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC activity

Synopsis

Field	Value
Activation Period	14 Days
Training Period	30 Days
Test Period	N/A (single event)
Deduplication Period	1 Day
Required Data	Requires one of the following data sources: Palo Alto Networks Firewall EAL Logs OR XDR Agent with eXtended Threat Hunting (XTH)
Detector Tags	NDR Lateral Movement Analytics
ATT&CK Tactic	Lateral Movement (TA0008)
ATT&CK Technique	Remote Services (T1021)
Severity	Informational

Description

The endpoint performed abnormal RPC activity via Service Control Manager interface to a remote host.

Attacker's Goals

• Attackers may attempt to gain persistence or move laterally over the network by executing code on remote hosts using services.
• The service control manager RPC interface is used to create and start services on a local or a remote host.

Investigative actions

• Review the action of services.exe on the remote host where possible.
• Correlate the RPC call from the source host and understand which software initiated it.* Verify that this isn't IT activity.

Variations

Rare remote service creation and initiation via Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC interface

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Lateral Movement (TA0008)
ATT&CK Technique	Remote Services (T1021)
Severity	Medium

Description

The endpoint performed abnormal service creation and initiation via Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC interface to a remote host.

Attacker's Goals

• Attackers may attempt to gain persistence or move laterally over the network by executing code on remote hosts using services.
• The service control manager RPC interface is used to create and start services on a local or a remote host.

Investigative actions

• Review the action of services.exe on the remote host where possible.
• Correlate the RPC call from the source host and understand which software initiated it.* Verify that this isn't IT activity.

Rare remote service change or creation via Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC interface

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Lateral Movement (TA0008)
ATT&CK Technique	Remote Services (T1021)
Severity	Medium

Description

The endpoint performed abnormal service creation via Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC interface to a remote host.

Attacker's Goals

• Attackers may attempt to gain persistence or move laterally over the network by executing code on remote hosts using services.
• The service control manager RPC interface is used to create and start services on a local or a remote host.

Investigative actions

• Review the action of services.exe on the remote host where possible.
• Correlate the RPC call from the source host and understand which software initiated it.* Verify that this isn't IT activity.

Rare Remote Service (SVCCTL) RPC activity

Synopsis

Field	Value
ATT&CK Tactic	Lateral Movement (TA0008)
ATT&CK Technique	Remote Services (T1021)
Severity	Low

Description

The endpoint performed abnormal RPC activity via Service Control Manager interface to a remote host.

Attacker's Goals

• Attackers may attempt to gain persistence or move laterally over the network by executing code on remote hosts using services.
• The service control manager RPC interface is used to create and start services on a local or a remote host.

Investigative actions

• Review the action of services.exe on the remote host where possible.
• Correlate the RPC call from the source host and understand which software initiated it.* Verify that this isn't IT activity.