Column U: User-Mode

Description: Observables associated with user-mode OS activity.

The OS kernel (ring 0) is typically invoked using C wrapper functions running in user mode (ring 3). In Windows, these system wrapper functions usually start with Nt or Zw. 1 . In other operating systems, these C wrapper functions are usually included in libc. In either case, the wrapper functions switch into kernel mode using a predefined calling convention such as setting specific register flags and calling a certain interrupt. The attacker may bypass these wrapper functions by writing their own code to switch to kernel mode.

Observables

Category

Observables

Process

Sysmon ID 5 (Process termination)
Sysmon ID 10 (Process access)
Event ID 7045 (New service installed)

File

Sysmon ID 2 (File creation time changed)
Sysmon ID 11 (File create)
Sysmon ID 15 (File create stream hash)
Sysmon ID 23 (File deletion)

Driver

Sysmon ID 6 (Driver loaded)

Registry Key

Sysmon ID 13 (Registry value set)
Sysmon ID 14 (Registry object renamed)

Useful resources:

References

1

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/kernel/using-nt-and-zw-versions-of-the-native-system-services-routines