Cisco Secure Firewall - Static Tundra Smart Install Abuse
Description
This analytic detects activity associated with "Static Tundra" threat actor abuse of the Cisco Smart Install (SMI) protocol using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events. It leverages Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense IntrusionEvent logs to identify occurrences of Smart Install exploitation and protocol abuse, including denial-of-service and buffer overflow attempts. The detection triggers when multiple Cisco Smart Install-related Snort signatures are observed in a short period from the same source, which is indicative of active exploitation or reconnaissance against Cisco devices that expose SMI.
Query · spl
`cisco_secure_firewall` EventType=IntrusionEvent signature_id IN (46468, 46096, 41722, 41723, 41724, 41725)
| bin _time span=15m
| fillnull
| stats dc(signature_id) as unique_signature_count
values(signature_id) as signature_id
values(signature) as signature
values(class_desc) as class_desc
values(MitreAttackGroups) as MitreAttackGroups
values(InlineResult) as InlineResult
values(InlineResultReason) as InlineResultReason
values(dest) as dest
values(dest_port) as dest_port
values(rule) as rule
values(transport) as transport
values(app) as app
min(_time) as firstTime
max(_time) as lastTime
by src
| where unique_signature_count >= 2
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `cisco_secure_firewall___static_tundra_smart_install_abuse_filter`
Implementation guide
This search requires Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense logs with IntrusionEvent data. It uses the cisco_secure_firewall
input macro; configure it to match your environment (index, source, sourcetype). Ensure your intrusion policies include the
relevant Smart Install signatures and that events are collected via the Splunk Add-on for Cisco Security Cloud
(https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7404). The post-filter macro helps reduce known noise.
Known false positives
- Network scanning or testing tools that probe Cisco Smart Install endpoints may trigger similar signatures. Validate against maintenance windows or approved security assessments.
Analyst notes
Known false positives: Network scanning or testing tools that probe Cisco Smart Install endpoints may trigger similar signatures. Validate against maintenance windows or approved security assessments.