Detecting WMI Persistence

When to Use

• When hunting for WMI event subscription persistence (MITRE ATT&CK T1546.003)
• After detecting suspicious WMI activity in endpoint telemetry
• During incident response to identify attacker persistence mechanisms
• When Sysmon alerts trigger on Event IDs 19, 20, or 21
• During purple team exercises testing WMI-based persistence

Prerequisites

• Sysmon v6.1+ deployed with WMI event logging enabled (Event IDs 19, 20, 21)
• Windows Security Event Log forwarding configured
• SIEM with Sysmon data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
• PowerShell access for WMI enumeration on endpoints
• Sysinternals Autoruns for manual WMI subscription review

Workflow

1. Collect Telemetry: Parse Sysmon Event IDs 19 (WmiEventFilter), 20 (WmiEventConsumer), 21 (WmiEventConsumerToFilter).
2. Identify Suspicious Consumers: Flag CommandLineEventConsumer and ActiveScriptEventConsumer types executing code.
3. Analyze Event Filters: Examine WQL queries in EventFilters for process start triggers or timer-based execution.
4. Correlate Bindings: Match FilterToConsumerBindings linking suspicious filters to consumers.
5. Check Persistence Locations: Query WMI namespaces root\subscription and root\default for active subscriptions.
6. Validate Findings: Cross-reference with known-good WMI subscriptions (SCCM, AV products).
7. Document and Remediate: Remove malicious subscriptions and update detection rules.

Key Concepts

Tools & Systems

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-WMI-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1546.003
Host: [Hostname]
Event Type: [EventFilter|EventConsumer|Binding]
Consumer Type: [CommandLine|ActiveScript]
WQL Query: [Filter query text]
Command: [Executed command or script]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]
Recommended Action: [Remove subscription, investigate lateral movement]

Verification Criteria

Confirm successful execution by validating:

• [ ] All prerequisite tools and access requirements are satisfied
• [ ] Each workflow step completed without errors
• [ ] Output matches expected format and contains expected data
• [ ] No security warnings or misconfigurations detected
• [ ] Results are documented and evidence is preserved for audit

Compliance Framework Mapping

This skill supports compliance evidence collection across multiple frameworks:

• SOC 2: CC7.2 (Anomaly Detection), CC7.3 (Incident Identification)
• ISO 27001: A.12.4 (Logging & Monitoring), A.16.1 (Security Incident Management)
• NIST 800-53: SI-4 (System Monitoring), IR-4 (Incident Handling), RA-5 (Vulnerability Scanning)
• NIST CSF: DE.AE (Anomalies & Events), DE.CM (Continuous Monitoring), DE.DP (Detection Processes)

Claw GRC Tip: When this skill is executed by a registered agent, compliance evidence is automatically captured and mapped to the relevant controls in your active frameworks.

Deploying This Skill with Claw GRC

Agent Execution

Register this skill with your Claw GRC agent for automated execution:

# Install via CLI
npx claw-grc skills add detecting-wmi-persistence

# Or load dynamically via MCP
grc.load_skill("detecting-wmi-persistence")

Audit Trail Integration

When executed through Claw GRC, every step of this skill generates tamper-evident audit records:

• SHA-256 chain hashing ensures no step can be modified after execution
• Evidence artifacts (configs, scan results, logs) are automatically attached to relevant controls
• Trust score impact — successful execution increases your agent's trust score

Continuous Compliance

Schedule this skill for recurring execution to maintain continuous compliance posture. Claw GRC monitors for drift and alerts when re-execution is needed.