Home/ATT&CK Technique/System Service Discovery
ATT&CK Technique

System Service Discovery

T1007 · discovery

Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services. Adversaries may obtain information about services using tools as well as OS utility commands such as sc query, tasklist /svc, systemctl --type=service, and net start. Adversaries may also gather information about schedule tasks via commands such as schtasks on Windows or crontab -l on Linux and macOS.

Adversaries may use the information from System Service Discovery during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions.

LinuxmacOSWindows
◆

Actors Using This

3
iranMuddyWater
russiaTurla
chinaVolt Typhoon
◈

Likely Attack Path

Techniques the same actors pair with this one distinctively - those showing up among actors who use this technique noticeably more than across all actors (lift > 1.15), grouped by kill-chain phase. The × is that lift multiplier; the shared-actor count is in the tooltip. A near-universal technique pairs with everything at baseline, so its list is short by design.
resource-development earlier
T1584.004 · Server ×6.43
execution earlier
T1047 · Windows Management Instrumentation ×4.25
persistence earlier
T1505 · Server Software Component ×3.05
privilege-escalation earlier
T1546 · Event Triggered Execution ×6.10T1055 · Process Injection ×2.98
discovery same
T1124 · System Time Discovery ×79.33T1016.001 · Internet Connection Discovery ×39.67T1069.001 · Local Groups ×21.64T1049 · System Network Connections Discovery ×4.67T1012 · Query Registry ×4.18T1087.002 · Domain Account ×3.22T1087.001 · Local Account ×2.98
command-and-control later
T1105 · Ingress Tool Transfer ×2.87
other same
T1036.004 · Masquerade Task or Service ×3.17T1564 · Hide Artifacts ×2.98
▸

Atomic Tests

8
Executable Atomic Red Team test cases for exercising this technique in a lab. Copy a command, run it on the listed platform, confirm your detections fire.
command_promptelevatedwindowsSystem Service Discovery
Identify system services. Upon successful execution, cmd.exe will execute service commands with expected result to stdout. 
tasklist.exe /svc
sc query
sc query state= all
command_promptwindowsSystem Service Discovery - net.exe
Enumerates started system services using net.exe and writes them to a file. This technique has been used by multiple threat actors. Upon successful execution, net.exe will run from cmd.exe that queries services. Expected output is to a txt file in in the temp directory called service-list.txt. 
net.exe start >> #{output_file}
bashlinuxSystem Service Discovery - systemctl/service
Enumerates system service using systemctl/service 
if [ "$(uname)" = 'FreeBSD' ]; then service -e; else systemctl --type=service; fi;
command_promptwindowsGet-Service Execution
Executes the Get-Service cmdlet to gather objects representing all services on the local system.
powershell.exe Get-Service
shmacosSystem Service Discovery - macOS launchctl
Enumerates services on macOS using launchctl. Used by adversaries for identifying daemons, background services, and persistence mechanisms. 
launchctl list
command_promptwindowsSystem Service Discovery - Windows Scheduled Tasks (schtasks)
Enumerates scheduled tasks on Windows using schtasks.exe. 
schtasks /query /fo LIST /v
powershellwindowsSystem Service Discovery - Services Registry Enumeration
Enumerates Windows services by reading the Services registry key (HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services) instead of using Service Control Manager APIs or CLI tools such as sc.exe or Get-Service. 
Get-ChildItem -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services' |
  ForEach-Object {
    $p = Get-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    [PSCustomObject]@{
      Name        = $_.PSChildName
      DisplayName = $p.DisplayName
      ImagePath   = $p.ImagePath
      StartType   = $p.Start
    }
  }
shlinuxSystem Service Discovery - Linux init scripts
Enumerates system services by listing SysV init scripts and runlevel symlinks under /etc/init.d and /etc/rc*.d. 
echo "[*] Listing SysV init scripts (/etc/init.d):"
if [ -d /etc/init.d ]; then ls -l /etc/init.d; else echo "/etc/init.d not present on this system"; fi
echo
echo "[*] Listing runlevel directories (/etc/rc*.d):"
ls -ld /etc/rc*.d 2>/dev/null || echo "No /etc/rc*.d directories found"
◈

Detection Coverage

2/6 layers
Coverage across standard detection surfaces. Rows marked none have no rule of that type mapped. Some are real blind spots worth closing; others are simply not applicable to this technique (e.g. YARA matches malware files, not network behaviour).
Behavioral / log (Sigma) 8
Analytics (MITRE CAR) 2
Runtime / container (Falco) none
File / malware (YARA) none
Network (Suricata/Snort) none
Vuln scan (Nuclei) none
◈

CAR Analytics

2
MITRE Cyber Analytics Repository - field-tested detection logic for this technique, written as pseudocode/queries you adapt to your own SIEM (Splunk, Sentinel, EQL). Each is a ready starting point for a detection rule, not just a description.
CAR-2013-04-002Low coverageQuick execution of a series of suspicious commands

Certain commands are frequently used by malicious actors and infrequently used by normal users. By looking for execution of these commands in short periods of time, we can not only see when a malicious user was on the system but also get an idea of what they were doing.

Commands of interest
  • arp.exe.
  • at.exe.
  • attrib.exe.
  • cscript.exe.
  • dsquery.exe.
  • hostname.exe.
  • ipconfig.exe.
  • mimikatz.exe.
  • nbstat.exe.
  • net.exe.
  • netsh.exe.
  • nslookup.exe.
  • ping.exe.
  • quser.exe.
  • qwinsta.exe.
  • reg.exe.
  • runas.exe.
  • sc.exe.
  • schtasks.exe.
  • ssh.exe.
  • systeminfo.exe.
  • taskkill.exe.
  • telnet.exe.
  • tracert.exe.
  • wscript.exe.
  • xcopy.exe ### Output Description The host on which the commands were executed, the time of execution, and what commands were executed.
pseudocode
processes = search Process:Create
reg_processes = filter processes where (exe == "arp.exe" or exe == "at.exe" or exe == "attrib.exe"
 or exe == "cscript.exe" or exe == "dsquery.exe" or exe == "hostname.exe"
 or exe == "ipconfig.exe" or exe == "mimikatz.exe" or exe == "nbstat.exe"
 or exe == "net.exe" or exe == "netsh.exe" or exe == "nslookup.exe"
 or exe == "ping.exe" or exe == "quser.exe" or exe == "qwinsta.exe"
 or exe == "reg.exe" or exe == "runas.exe" or exe == "sc.exe"
 or exe == "schtasks.exe" or exe == "ssh.exe" or exe == "systeminfo.exe"
 or exe == "taskkill.exe" or exe == "telnet.exe" or exe == "tracert.exe"
 or exe == "wscript.exe" or exe == "xcopy.exe")
reg_grouped = group reg by hostname, ppid where(max time between two events is 30 minutes)
output reg_grouped
DNIF
_fetch * from event where $LogName=WINDOWS-SYSMON AND $EventID=1 AND $App=regex(arp\.exe|at\.exe|attrib\.exe|cscript\.exe|dsquery\.exe|hostname\.exe|ipconfig\.exe|mimikatz.exe|nbstat\.exe|net\.exe|netsh\.exe|nslookup\.exe|ping\.exe|quser\.exe|qwinsta\.exe|reg\.exe|runas\.exe|sc\.exe|schtasks\.exe|ssh\.exe|systeminfo\.exe|taskkill\.exe|telnet\.exe|tracert\.exe|wscript\.exe|xcopy\.exe)i group count_unique $App limit 100
>>_agg count
>>_checkif int_compare Count > 1 include
LogPoint
norm_id=WindowsSysmon event_id=1 image IN ["*\arp.exe", "*\at.exe", "*\attrib.exe", "*\cscript.exe", "*\dsquery.exe", "*\hostname.exe", "*\ipconfig.exe", "*\mimikatz.exe", "*\nbstat.exe", "*\net.exe", "*\netsh.exe", "*\nslookup.exe", "*\ping.exe", "*\quser.exe", "*\qwinsta.exe", "*\reg.exe", "*\runas.exe", "*\sc.exe", "*\schtasks.exe", "*\ssh.exe", "*\systeminfo.exe", "*\taskkill.exe", "*\telnet.exe", "*\tracert.exe", "*\wscript.exe", "*\xcopy.exe"]
| chart count() as cnt by host
| search cnt > 1
CAR-2016-03-001Moderate coverageHost Discovery Commands

When entering on a host for the first time, an adversary may try to discover information about the host. There are several built-in Windows commands that can be used to learn about the software configurations, active users, administrators, and networking configuration. These commands should be monitored to identify when an adversary is learning information about the system and environment.

The information returned may impact choices an adversary can make when establishing persistence, escalating privileges, or moving laterally. Because these commands are built in, they may be run frequently by power users or even by normal users. Thus, an analytic looking at this information should have well-defined white-or blacklists, and should consider looking at an anomaly detection approach, so that this information can be learned dynamically.

Within the built-in Windows Commands
  • hostname.
  • ipconfig.
  • net.
  • quser.
  • qwinsta.
  • sc with flags query, queryex, qc.
  • systeminfo.
  • tasklist.
  • dsquery.
  • whoami Note dsquery is only pre-existing on Windows servers.
pseudocode
process = search Process:Create
info_command = filter process where (
 exe == "hostname.exe" or
 exe == "ipconfig.exe" or
 exe == "net.exe" or
 exe == "quser.exe" or
 exe == "qwinsta.exe" or
 exe == "sc" and (command_line match " query" or command_line match " qc")) or
 exe == "systeminfo.exe" or
 exe == "tasklist.exe" or
 exe == "whoami.exe"
)
output info_command
Splunk
index=__your_sysmon_index__ EventCode=1 (Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\hostname.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\ipconfig.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\net.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\quser.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\qwinsta.exe" OR (Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\sc.exe" AND (CommandLine="* query *" OR CommandLine="* qc *")) OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\systeminfo.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\tasklist.exe" OR Image="C:\\Windows\\*\\whoami.exe")|stats values(Image) as "Images" values(CommandLine) as "Command Lines" by ComputerName
EQL
process where subtype.create and
  (process_name == "hostname.exe" or process_name == "ipconfig.exe" or process_name == "net.exe" or process_name == "quser.exe" process_name == "qwinsta.exe" or process_name == "systeminfo.exe" or process_name == "tasklist.exe" or process_name == "whoami.exe" or (process_name == "sc.exe" and (command_line == "* query *" or command_line == "* qc *")))
LogPoint
norm_id=WindowsSysmon event_id=1 (image in ["*\hostname.exe", "*\ipconfig.exe", "*\net.exe", "*\quser.exe", "*\qwinsta.exe", "*\systeminfo.exe", "*\tasklist.exe", "*\whoami.exe"] OR (image="*\sc.exe" command IN ["* query *", "* qc *"))
▸

Caldera Emulation

1
MITRE Caldera abilities that emulate this technique - each is an executable action for automated adversary emulation.
discoverywindowsDiscover system services
Get-Service
▣

Comply & Defend

D3FEND6 defensive techniques
Intelligence Graph · click any node to traverse
CVETechnique ActorTool Family
drag to reposition · click any node to traverse · button top-right enlarges
External lookups - second-class, for what we don’t hold ourselves
MITRE ATT&CKAtomic Red Teamcar (MITRE)
Vulnerabilities
CISA KEV catalog
CWE weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns
Package vulnerabilities
Threat intelligence
Threat actors
Tools & malware
ATT&CK techniques
IOCs
Detection & defense
Sigma rules
YARA rules
Atomic Red Team tests
D3FEND countermeasures
Compliance
NIST 800-53
ISO 27001:2022
SOC 2 TSC
PCI-DSS v4.0
CIS Controls v8.1
About
All capabilities
Live statistics
Data sources
Privacy policy
Terms of service
threatengine.sh  ·  Open-source threat intelligence platform  ·  100+ authoritative sources  ·  Every fact traces to its origin