Unlocking the Power of Certutil

CertUtil is a command-line tool available on Windows operating systems that allows users to manage certificates and certificate revocation lists (CRLs). It is a powerful tool that enables administrators to perform various tasks, including viewing certificates, verifying digital signatures, and managing certificate stores.

In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at CertUtil and explore its features and functionalities.

Viewing Certificates

One of the primary functions of CertUtil is to view certificates. You can use the tool to view the details of a specific certificate or a list of all certificates in a certificate store. To view a specific certificate, you can use the following command:

certutil -view -restrict "SerialNumber=<serialnumber>"

In the above command, replace <serialnumber> with the serial number of the certificate you want to view. This command will display the details of the specified certificate, including the certificate's subject, issuer, and expiration date.

To view all certificates in a certificate store, you can use the following command:

certutil -store <storename>

In the above command, replace <storename> with the name of the certificate store you want to view, such as My or Root. This command will display a list of all certificates in the specified store.

Verifying Digital Signatures

Another important feature of CertUtil is its ability to verify digital signatures. You can use the tool to verify the digital signature of a file or to verify the digital signature of a certificate. To verify the digital signature of a file, you can use the following command:

certutil -verify <filename>

In the above command, replace <filename> with the name of the file you want to verify. This command will display the result of the verification process, indicating whether the digital signature is valid or invalid.

To verify the digital signature of a certificate, you can use the following command:

certutil -verify -urlfetch <certfilename>

In the above command, replace <certfilename> with the name of the certificate file you want to verify. This command will verify the digital signature of the specified certificate and will also check the certificate's revocation status.

Managing Certificate Stores

CertUtil also allows users to manage certificate stores. You can use the tool to add or remove certificates from a certificate store or to export a certificate to a file. To add a certificate to a store, you can use the following command:

certutil -addstore <storename> <filename>

In the above command, replace <storename> with the name of the store you want to remove the certificate from, and replace <serialnumber> with the serial number of the certificate you want to remove.

Finally, to export a certificate to a file, you can use the following command:

certutil -export <storename> <serialnumber> <filename>

In the above command, replace <storename> with the name of the store that contains the certificate, replace <serialnumber> with the serial number of the certificate you want to export, and replace <filename> with the name of the file you want to export the certificate to.

Certutil defined in MITRE ATT&CK:

• T1130 —  Enterprise — Install Root Certificate
• T1140 —  Defense Evasion — Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
• T1105 —  Lateral Movement — Remote File Copy
• S0160 —  certutil

APT Groups That Use Certutil Software:

• G0075 — Rancor
• G0045 — menuPass
• G0007 — APT28
• G0049 — OilRig
• G0010 — Turla

How attackers uses certutil.exe:

According to Malwarebyte report in a attack against Saudi Arabia Government, The payload was embedded in a macro as Base64 code. It uses the certutil program to decode the Base64 into a PE file. The ‘Retefe Trojan’ writes the root certificate to the disk and then uses the above given commands to install it on the system. Certutil.exe used to download and decode remote files. Sofacy has used Certutil to attack multiple government entities. Attackers also can use CertUtil to encode or decode malicious payloads while avoiding detection.

FireEye Threat research report: CertUtil Qualms: They Came to Drop FOMBs

Detection of Certutil attack:

• Certutil.exe creates new files on disk.
• Keep monitoring user agent Microsoft-CryptoAPI/10.0
• Monitoring useragent CertUtil URL Agent.
• Monitoring the process creation for Certutil.exe.

Conclusion

CertUtil is a very powerful tool that allows administrators to manage certificates and certificate stores on Windows operating systems. It provides a range of features and functionalities, including the ability to view certificates, verify digital signatures, and manage.

Streamline Security Operations with SOAR: Automating Threat Response

Introduction:

In today's digital landscape, organizations face an overwhelming number of security alerts on a daily basis. A significant portion of these alerts turn out to be false positives, leading to wasted time and resources. To address this challenge, Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solutions have emerged as a game-changer in security investigation and incident response. By automating repetitive tasks and accelerating threat response, SOAR empowers Security Operations Centers (SOCs) to become more efficient and effective. In this blog, we will explore the concept of SOAR, its benefits, and its use cases across various security domains.

What is SOAR?

SOAR, which stands for Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response, represents a next-generation SIEM solution with powerful automation capabilities. It works by integrating with various security technologies such as SIEM, Threat Hunting, EDR, Email Security, and more. These integrations can be achieved through REST API, SOAP, SSH, HTTPS, or SQL. By leveraging these connections, SOAR optimizes security operations by automating workflows, reducing response times, and minimizing false positive alerts.

Source: LinkedIn

Benefits of SOAR:

Improved Efficiency: SOAR enables organizations to streamline security operations by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. By reducing manual effort, security analysts can focus on critical tasks, resulting in increased productivity.

Enhanced Threat Detection: With its advanced capabilities, SOAR employs signature-based and anomaly behavior-based detection methods to analyze security alerts. By filtering out false positives, SOAR ensures that security teams can concentrate their efforts on legitimate threats.

Accelerated Incident Response: SOAR facilitates faster response times to security incidents. By automating incident triage, containment, and remediation processes, organizations can minimize the impact of cyberattacks and reduce the time required to mitigate threats.

Intelligent Visualization: SOAR provides a visual representation of complex security workflows, making it easier for analysts to understand and respond to incidents effectively. Visualization capabilities enhance situational awareness and enable better decision-making. 

Use Cases of SOAR Playbooks:

Threat Hunting: SOAR playbooks enable the collection of Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and their analysis across various log sources. This data is then fed into threat intelligence systems, empowering security teams to proactively identify and respond to potential threats.

Vulnerability Management: SOAR can be used to automate vulnerability scans, risk analysis, and ticketing for remediation. This ensures that vulnerabilities are promptly addressed, reducing the organization's attack surface.

Case Management: SOAR playbooks facilitate the efficient management of security tickets throughout their lifecycle. They automate ticket creation, assignment, tracking, and closure, allowing for better case prioritization and improved collaboration among security teams.

Threat Intel and Alert Enrichment: SOAR integrates with multiple Threat Intelligence sources to enrich security alerts. By leveraging data from sources such as VirusTotal, IPDB, and OSINT, SOAR playbooks can provide additional context to help analysts make more informed decisions.

Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR): SOAR playbooks are invaluable in incident response scenarios. They automate actions such as isolating infected machines, running AV scans, collecting logs for analysis, and generating comprehensive reports, enabling effective forensic investigations.

Top SOAR vendors:

There are a number of SOAR vendors on the market, including:

• Splunk Phantom
• IBM Resilient
• Siemplify
• ThreatConnect
• ArcSight SOAR

Conclusion:

In today's rapidly evolving threat landscape, organizations must adopt innovative approaches to enhance their security operations. SOAR solutions provide the much-needed automation and orchestration capabilities required to improve incident response times, reduce false positives, and streamline security investigations. By leveraging SOAR playbooks, organizations can harness the power of automation, enabling their security teams to focus on high-value tasks and effectively combat cyber threats. Remember, investing in IT security is an investment in safeguarding your organization's assets and reputation.

As Richard Clarke wisely said, "If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked." So, invest wisely and embrace the power of SOAR to strengthen your security posture and protect your organization from cyber threats. 

I hope this blog has been informative. Please let me know if you have any questions.