Auditing Scenarios for Web Application Hosted in IIS - Part 1 - SSL Binding Modified

I have come across a few instances Root Cause Analysis (RCA) was requested for issues related to a web application that were caused by factors such as:

• Changes in permission of the Application Root folder.
• Web site being deleted.
• SSL certificate binding modified.

Furthermore, there were times when using Process Monitor - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn was not possible because the problem was intermittent, such as when files were being written to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys at irregular intervals.

The steps below assisted me in enabling auditing to log the necessary events in each scenario. Please feel free to check other parts of this blog:

• Part 2- Auditing Scenarios for Web Application Hosted in IIS - Part 2 - Permissions changed on Folder - Microsoft Community Hub
• Part 3- Auditing Scenarios for Web Application Hosted in IIS - Part 3 - Website deleted - Microsoft Community Hub
• Part 4- Auditing Scenarios for Web Application Hosted in IIS - Part 4 - Files being written to folder - Microsoft Community Hub

Scenario 1: SSL binding modified:

When we configure an SSL Binding for HTTPs in IIS, a registry entry is made to the path HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\HTTP\PARAMETERS\. This is used by HTTP.sys driver for TLS handshake.  You can also view all the SSL bindings using netsh http show sslcert.

References:

• Netsh Commands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) | Microsoft Learn
• Introduction to IIS Architectures | Microsoft Learn

Option 1: Using Sysmon to monitor Registry.

===================================

Sysmon - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn is great tool for "offline monitoring" of processes, file I/O and registry. We can setup Sysmon configuration to write events for Registry activity on HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\HTTP\PARAMETERS\.

Sample Steps (configure as needed):

========

• Download and extract Sysmon from Sysmon - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn.
• Install Sysmon drivers:
  • Sysmon64 -i (run as administrator)
• Create a configuration file - regedit.xml for monitoring the registry path:

<Sysmon schemaversion="4.82">

<EventFiltering>
<!-- Do not log process termination and creations -->
<ProcessCreate onmatch="include" />
<ProcessTerminate onmatch="include" />
<RegistryEvent onmatch="include">

<TargetObject condition="contains">Services\HTTP\Parameters</TargetObject>

</RegistryEvent>
</EventFiltering>

</Sysmon>

• Configure sysmon:
  • copy regedit.xml to extracted folder of sysmon.
  • cd <folder to sysmon>
  • sysmon64 -c regedit.xml
• Notice the events 12,13 after a binding change in IIS:
  • Event Viewer -> Application and Services Log -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Sysmon. 
  • 

     

• Uninstalling Sysmon:
  • sysmon64 -u
• More details and customization - Sysmon - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn

Option 2: Using Operating System and IIS Auditing.

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For capturing SSL certificate changes, we found 3 types of Audits would help:

• Registry Auditing – if changes done directly at registry level
• Process Auditing (enabled by default) – If the changes are done using netsh.
• IIS Configuration Auditing – If the changes are done using IIS Manager

1. Registry Auditing:

• Open regedit and navigate to the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\HTTP\PARAMETERS\
  • Right Click and Select Permissions
  • Select Advanced Permissions
  • Go to Auditing Tab
  • Click on Add
    • Click on Select Principal >> Add Everyone and click on advanced permissions. Select the checked permissions as mentioned in the below image.

• Open Local Security Policy Editor (run >> secpol.msc)
• Advanced Audit Policy Configuration >> System Audit Policies >> Object Access >> Audit Registry >> configure for success and failure )
• 

   

• If changes are made to the Audited Registry folder, we would see an event like below in security event logs:
• 

   

• Reference - 4657(S) A registry value was modified. (Windows 10) | Microsoft Learn
• Audit Registry (Windows 10) | Microsoft Learn

       2. Process Auditing

• If the SSL cert is modified by netsh command, we can review process creation event in Security logs (usually enabled by default):

• If you don't see process creation events, enable the auditing by referring below steps (or use GPO):
  • run >> Secpol.msc >> Advanced Policy Configuration >> System Audit Policies:
    • Detailed Tracking >> Audit Process creation >> Configure for success and failure
• References
  • 4688(S) A new process has been created. (Windows 10) | Microsoft Learn
  • Command line process auditing | Microsoft Learn

      3. IIS Configuration Auditing

• If the changes are done from IIS Manager, we can refer IIS configuration Auditing:
• 

   

• To enable IIS configuration logging, please refer - IIS 7.5 – How to enable IIS Configuration Auditing? - Microsoft Community Hub.

Happy Troubleshooting!