Windows Excessive Disabled Services Event

Description

The following analytic identifies an excessive number of system events where services are modified from start to disabled. It leverages Windows Event Logs (EventCode 7040) to detect multiple service state changes on a single host. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to disable security applications or other critical services, potentially leading to defense evasion or destructive actions. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to disable security defenses, disrupt system operations, and achieve their objectives on the compromised system.

Query · spl

`wineventlog_system` EventCode=7040 "disabled"
  | stats count values(EventData_Xml) as MessageList dc(EventData_Xml) as MessageCount min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
    BY Computer EventCode UserID
  | rename Computer as dest
  | where count >=10
  | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
  | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
  | `windows_excessive_disabled_services_event_filter`

Implementation guide

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the Service name, Service File Name Service Start type, and Service Type from your endpoints.

Known false positives

  • No false positives have been identified at this time.

Analyst notes

Known false positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.

Raw source Windows Excessive Disabled Services Event · SPL
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Published by splunk/security_content ↗, licensed under Apache 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified. 
name: Windows Excessive Disabled Services Event
id: c3f85976-94a5-11ec-9a58-acde48001122
version: 15
creation_date: '2022-02-23'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies an excessive number of system events where services are modified from start to disabled. It leverages Windows Event Logs (EventCode 7040) to detect multiple service state changes on a single host. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to disable security applications or other critical services, potentially leading to defense evasion or destructive actions. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to disable security defenses, disrupt system operations, and achieve their objectives on the compromised system.
data_source:
    - Windows Event Log System 7040
search: |-
    `wineventlog_system` EventCode=7040 "disabled"
      | stats count values(EventData_Xml) as MessageList dc(EventData_Xml) as MessageCount min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY Computer EventCode UserID
      | rename Computer as dest
      | where count >=10
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `windows_excessive_disabled_services_event_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the Service name, Service File Name Service Start type, and Service Type from your endpoints.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/02/olympic-destroyer.html
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | 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"
finding:
    title: An excessive number (Count - $MessageCount$) of Windows services were disabled on dest - $dest$.
    entity:
        field: dest
        type: system
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - CISA AA23-347A
    - Compromised Windows Host
    - Windows Defense Evasion Tactics
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1685
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/attack_techniques/T1562.001/windows_excessive_disabled_services_event/windows-xml.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:System
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit

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