detecting-privilege-escalation-attempts

name	detecting-privilege-escalation-attempts
description	Detect privilege escalation attempts across Windows and Linux, including access token manipulation, UAC bypass, unquoted service path abuse, kernel exploits, and sudo/doas abuse. Use when threat hunting for T1068-style privilege escalation, triaging EDR/SIEM alerts on suspicious privilege changes, scoping compromise during incident response, or validating detection coverage in a purple team exercise.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	threat-hunting
tags	["threat-hunting","mitre-attack","privilege-escalation","token-manipulation","uac-bypass","proactive-detection"]
version	1.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0
d3fend_techniques	["Token Binding","Executable Denylisting","Execution Isolation","Restore Access","Reissue Credential"]
nist_csf	["DE.CM-01","DE.AE-02","DE.AE-07","ID.RA-05"]
mitre_attack	["T1046","T1057","T1082","T1083","T1068"]

Detecting Privilege Escalation Attempts

When to Use

• When proactively hunting for indicators of detecting privilege escalation attempts in the environment
• After threat intelligence indicates active campaigns using these techniques
• During incident response to scope compromise related to these techniques
• When EDR or SIEM alerts trigger on related indicators
• During periodic security assessments and purple team exercises

Prerequisites

• EDR platform with process and network telemetry (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
• SIEM with relevant log data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
• Sysmon deployed with comprehensive configuration
• Windows Security Event Log forwarding enabled
• Threat intelligence feeds for IOC correlation

Workflow

1. Formulate Hypothesis: Define a testable hypothesis based on threat intelligence or ATT&CK gap analysis.
2. Identify Data Sources: Determine which logs and telemetry are needed to validate or refute the hypothesis.
3. Execute Queries: Run detection queries against SIEM and EDR platforms to collect relevant events.
4. Analyze Results: Examine query results for anomalies, correlating across multiple data sources.
5. Validate Findings: Distinguish true positives from false positives through contextual analysis.
6. Correlate Activity: Link findings to broader attack chains and threat actor TTPs.
7. Document and Report: Record findings, update detection rules, and recommend response actions.

Key Concepts

Concept	Description
T1134	Access Token Manipulation
T1548.002	UAC Bypass
T1068	Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
T1574.009	Unquoted Service Path

Tools & Systems

Tool	Purpose
CrowdStrike Falcon	EDR telemetry and threat detection
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	Advanced hunting with KQL
Splunk Enterprise	SIEM log analysis with SPL queries