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The Advanced Security Information Model (ASIM) Process Event normalization schema reference (Public preview)

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The Process Event normalization schema is used to describe the operating system activity of running and terminating a process. Such events are reported by operating systems and security systems, such as EDR (End Point Detection and Response) systems.

A process, as defined by OSSEM, is a containment and management object that represents a running instance of a program. While processes themselves do not run, they do manage threads that run and execute code.

For more information about normalization in Microsoft Sentinel, see Normalization and the Advanced Security Information Model (ASIM).

Important

The Process Event normalization schema is currently in PREVIEW. This feature is provided without a service level agreement, and is not recommended for production workloads.

The Azure Preview Supplemental Terms include additional legal terms that apply to Azure features that are in beta, preview, or otherwise not yet released into general availability.

Parsers

To use the unifying parsers that unify all of listed parsers and ensure that you analyze across all the configured sources, use the following table names in your queries:

  • imProcessCreate for queries that require process creation information. These queries are the most common case.
  • imProcessTerminate for queries that require process termination information.

For the list of the Process Event parsers Microsoft Sentinel provides out-of-the-box refer to the ASIM parsers list.

Deploy the Authentication parsers from the Microsoft Sentinel GitHub repository.

For more information, see ASIM parsers overview.

Add your own normalized parsers

When implementing custom process event parsers, name your KQL functions using the following syntax: imProcessCreate<vendor><Product> and imProcessTerminate<vendor><Product>. Replace im with ASim for the parameter-less version.

Add your KQL function to the unifying parsers as described in Managing ASIM parsers.

Filtering parser parameters

The im and vim* parsers support filtering parameters. While these parsers are optional, they can improve your query performance.

The following filtering parameters are available:

Name Type Description
starttime datetime Filter only process events occurred at or after this time.
endtime datetime Filter only process events queries that occurred at or before this time.
commandline_has_any dynamic Filter only process events for which the command line executed has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
commandline_has_all dynamic Filter only process events for which the command line executed has all of the listed values.. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
commandline_has_any_ip_prefix dynamic Filter only process events for which the command line executed has all of the listed IP addresses or IP address prefixes. Prefixes should end with a ., for example: 10.0.. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
actingprocess_has_any dynamic Filter only process events for which the acting process name, which includes the entire process path, has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
targetprocess_has_any dynamic Filter only process events for which the target process name, which includes the entire process path, has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
parentprocess_has_any dynamic Filter only process events for which the target process name, which includes the entire process path, has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
targetusername_has or actorusername_has string Filter only process events for which the target username (for process create events), or actor username (for process terminate events) has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
dvcipaddr_has_any_prefix dynamic Filter only process events for which the device IP address matches any of the listed IP addresses or IP address prefixes. Prefixes should end with a ., for example: 10.0.. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
dvchostname_has_any dynamic Filter only process events for which the device hostname, or device FQDN is available, has any of the listed values. The length of the list is limited to 10,000 items.
eventtype string Filter only process events of the specified type.

or example, to filter only authentication events from the last day to a specific user, use:

imProcessCreate (targetusername_has = 'johndoe', starttime = ago(1d), endtime=now())

Tip

To pass a literal list to parameters that expect a dynamic value, explicitly use a dynamic literal. For example: dynamic(['192.168.','10.']).

Normalized content

For a full list of analytics rules that use normalized process events, see Process Event security content.

Schema details

The Process Event information model is aligned to the OSSEM Process entity schema.

Common ASIM fields

Important

Fields common to all schemas are described in detail in the ASIM Common Fields article.

Common fields with specific guidelines

The following list mentions fields that have specific guidelines for process activity events:

Field Class Type Description
EventType Mandatory Enumerated Describes the operation reported by the record.

For Process records, supported values include:
- ProcessCreated
- ProcessTerminated
EventSchemaVersion Mandatory String The version of the schema. The version of the schema documented here is 0.1.4
EventSchema Optional String The name of the schema documented here is ProcessEvent.
Dvc fields For process activity events, device fields refer to the system on which the process was executed.

Important

The EventSchema field is currently optional but will become Mandatory on September 1st 2022.

All common fields

Fields that appear in the table below are common to all ASIM schemas. Any guideline specified above overrides the general guidelines for the field. For example, a field might be optional in general, but mandatory for a specific schema. For further details on each field, refer to the ASIM Common Fields article.

Class Fields
Mandatory - EventCount
- EventStartTime
- EventEndTime
- EventType
- EventResult
- EventProduct
- EventVendor
- EventSchema
- EventSchemaVersion
- Dvc
Recommended - EventResultDetails
- EventSeverity
- EventUid
- DvcIpAddr
- DvcHostname
- DvcDomain
- DvcDomainType
- DvcFQDN
- DvcId
- DvcIdType
- DvcAction
Optional - EventMessage
- EventSubType
- EventOriginalUid
- EventOriginalType
- EventOriginalSubType
- EventOriginalResultDetails
- EventOriginalSeverity
- EventProductVersion
- EventReportUrl
- EventOwner
- DvcZone
- DvcMacAddr
- DvcOs
- DvcOsVersion
- DvcOriginalAction
- DvcInterface
- AdditionalFields
- DvcDescription
- DvcScopeId
- DvcScope

Process Event-specific fields

The fields listed in the table below are specific to Process events, but are similar to fields in other schemas and follow similar naming conventions.

The process event schema references the following entities, which are central to process creation and termination activity:

  • Actor - The user that initiated the process creation or termination.
  • ActingProcess - The process used by the Actor to initiate the process creation or termination.
  • TargetProcess - The new process.
  • TargetUser - The user whose credentials are used to create the new process.
  • ParentProcess - The process that initiated the Actor Process.

Aliases

Field Class Type Description
User Alias Alias to the TargetUsername.

Example: CONTOSO\dadmin
Process Alias Alias to the TargetProcessName

Example: C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe
CommandLine Alias Alias to TargetProcessCommandLine
Hash Alias Alias to the best available hash for the target process.

Actor fields

Field Class Type Description
ActorUserId Recommended String A machine-readable, alphanumeric, unique representation of the Actor. For the supported format for different ID types, refer to the User entity.

Example: S-1-12
ActorUserIdType Conditional String The type of the ID stored in the ActorUserId field. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UserIdType in the Schema Overview article.
ActorScope Optional String The scope, such as Microsoft Entra tenant, in which ActorUserId and ActorUsername are defined. or more information and list of allowed values, see UserScope in the Schema Overview article.
ActorUsername Mandatory String The Actor username, including domain information when available. For the supported format for different ID types, refer to the User entity. Use the simple form only if domain information isn't available.

Store the Username type in the ActorUsernameType field. If other username formats are available, store them in the fields ActorUsername<UsernameType>.

Example: AlbertE
ActorUsernameType Conditional Enumerated Specifies the type of the user name stored in the ActorUsername field. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UsernameType in the Schema Overview article.

Example: Windows
ActorSessionId Optional String The unique ID of the login session of the Actor.

Example: 999

Note: The type is defined as string to support varying systems, but on Windows this value must be numeric.

If you are using a Windows machine and used a different type, make sure to convert the values. For example, if you used a hexadecimal value, convert it to a decimal value.
ActorUserType Optional UserType The type of Actor. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UserType in the Schema Overview article.

Note: The value might be provided in the source record by using different terms, which should be normalized to these values. Store the original value in the ActorOriginalUserType field.
ActorOriginalUserType Optional String The original destination user type, if provided by the reporting device.

Acting process fields

Field Class Type Description
ActingProcessCommandLine Optional String The command line used to run the acting process.

Example: "choco.exe" -v
ActingProcessName Optional string The name of the acting process. This name is commonly derived from the image or executable file that's used to define the initial code and data that's mapped into the process' virtual address space.

Example: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
ActingProcessFileCompany Optional String The company that created the acting process image file.

Example: Microsoft
ActingProcessFileDescription Optional String The description embedded in the version information of the acting process image file.

Example: Notepad++ : a free (GPL) source code editor
ActingProcessFileProduct Optional String The product name from the version information in the acting process image file.

Example: Notepad++
ActingProcessFileVersion Optional String The product version from the version information of the acting process image file.

Example: 7.9.5.0
ActingProcessFileInternalName Optional String The product internal file name from the version information of the acting process image file.
ActingProcessFileOriginalName Optional String The product original file name from the version information of the acting process image file.

Example: Notepad++.exe
ActingProcessIsHidden Optional Boolean An indication of whether the acting process is in hidden mode.
ActingProcessInjectedAddress Optional String The memory address in which the responsible acting process is stored.
ActingProcessId Mandatory String The process ID (PID) of the acting process.

Example: 48610176

Note: The type is defined as string to support varying systems, but on Windows and Linux this value must be numeric.

If you are using a Windows or Linux machine and used a different type, make sure to convert the values. For example, if you used a hexadecimal value, convert it to a decimal value.
ActingProcessGuid Optional string A generated unique identifier (GUID) of the acting process. Enables identifying the process across systems.

Example: EF3BD0BD-2B74-60C5-AF5C-010000001E00
ActingProcessIntegrityLevel Optional String Every process has an integrity level that is represented in its token. Integrity levels determine the process level of protection or access.

Windows defines the following integrity levels: low, medium, high, and system. Standard users receive a medium integrity level and elevated users receive a high integrity level.

For more information, see Mandatory Integrity Control - Win32 apps.
ActingProcessMD5 Optional String The MD5 hash of the acting process image file.

Example: 75a599802f1fa166cdadb360960b1dd0
ActingProcessSHA1 Optional SHA1 The SHA-1 hash of the acting process image file.

Example: d55c5a4df19b46db8c54c801c4665d3338acdab0
ActingProcessSHA256 Optional SHA256 The SHA-256 hash of the acting process image file.

Example:
e81bb824c4a09a811af17deae22f22dd
2e1ec8cbb00b22629d2899f7c68da274
ActingProcessSHA512 Optional SHA521 The SHA-512 hash of the acting process image file.
ActingProcessIMPHASH Optional String The Import Hash of all the library DLLs that are used by the acting process.
ActingProcessCreationTime Optional DateTime The date and time when the acting process was started.
ActingProcessTokenElevation Optional String A token indicating the presence or absence of User Access Control (UAC) privilege elevation applied to the acting process.

Example: None
ActingProcessFileSize Optional Long The size of the file that ran the acting process.

Parent process fields

Field Class Type Description
ParentProcessName Optional string The name of the parent process. This name is commonly derived from the image or executable file that's used to define the initial code and data that's mapped into the process' virtual address space.

Example: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
ParentProcessFileCompany Optional String The name of the company that created the parent process image file.

Example: Microsoft
ParentProcessFileDescription Optional String The description from the version information in the parent process image file.

Example: Notepad++ : a free (GPL) source code editor
ParentProcessFileProduct Optional String The product name from the version information in parent process image file.

Example: Notepad++
ParentProcessFileVersion Optional String The product version from the version information in parent process image file.

Example: 7.9.5.0
ParentProcessIsHidden Optional Boolean An indication of whether the parent process is in hidden mode.
ParentProcessInjectedAddress Optional String The memory address in which the responsible parent process is stored.
ParentProcessId Recommended String The process ID (PID) of the parent process.

Example: 48610176
ParentProcessGuid Optional String A generated unique identifier (GUID) of the parent process. Enables identifying the process across systems.

Example: EF3BD0BD-2B74-60C5-AF5C-010000001E00
ParentProcessIntegrityLevel Optional String Every process has an integrity level that is represented in its token. Integrity levels determine the process level of protection or access.

Windows defines the following integrity levels: low, medium, high, and system. Standard users receive a medium integrity level and elevated users receive a high integrity level.

For more information, see Mandatory Integrity Control - Win32 apps.
ParentProcessMD5 Optional MD5 The MD5 hash of the parent process image file.

Example: 75a599802f1fa166cdadb360960b1dd0
ParentProcessSHA1 Optional SHA1 The SHA-1 hash of the parent process image file.

Example: d55c5a4df19b46db8c54c801c4665d3338acdab0
ParentProcessSHA256 Optional SHA256 The SHA-256 hash of the parent process image file.

Example:
e81bb824c4a09a811af17deae22f22dd
2e1ec8cbb00b22629d2899f7c68da274
ParentProcessSHA512 Optional SHA512 The SHA-512 hash of the parent process image file.
ParentProcessIMPHASH Optional String The Import Hash of all the library DLLs that are used by the parent process.
ParentProcessTokenElevation Optional String A token indicating the presence or absence of User Access Control (UAC) privilege elevation applied to the parent process.

Example: None
ParentProcessCreationTime Optional DateTime The date and time when the parent process was started.

Target user fields

Field Class Type Description
TargetUsername Mandatory for process create events. String The target username, including domain information when available. For the supported format for different ID types, refer to the User entity. Use the simple form only if domain information isn't available.

Store the Username type in the TargetUsernameType field. If other username formats are available, store them in the fields TargetUsername<UsernameType>.

Example: AlbertE
TargetUsernameType Conditional Enumerated Specifies the type of the user name stored in the TargetUsername field. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UsernameType in the Schema Overview article.

Example: Windows
TargetUserId Recommended String A machine-readable, alphanumeric, unique representation of the target user. For the supported format for different ID types, refer to the User entity.

Example: S-1-12
TargetUserIdType Conditional String The type of the ID stored in the TargetUserId field. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UserIdType in the Schema Overview article.
TargetUserSessionId Optional String The unique ID of the target user's login session.

Example: 999

Note: The type is defined as string to support varying systems, but on Windows this value must be numeric.

If you are using a Windows or Linux machine and used a different type, make sure to convert the values. For example, if you used a hexadecimal value, convert it to a decimal value.
TargetUserType Optional UserType The type of Actor. For a list of allowed values and further information refer to UserType in the Schema Overview article.

Note: The value might be provided in the source record by using different terms, which should be normalized to these values. Store the original value in the TargetOriginalUserType field.
TargetOriginalUserType Optional String The original destination user type, if provided by the reporting device.

Target process fields

Field Class Type Description
TargetProcessName Mandatory string The name of the target process. This name is commonly derived from the image or executable file that's used to define the initial code and data that's mapped into the process' virtual address space.

Example: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
TargetProcessFileCompany Optional String The name of the company that created the target process image file.

Example: Microsoft
TargetProcessFileDescription Optional String The description from the version information in the target process image file.

Example: Notepad++ : a free (GPL) source code editor
TargetProcessFileProduct Optional String The product name from the version information in target process image file.

Example: Notepad++
TargetProcessFileSize Optional String Size of the file that ran the process responsible for the event.
TargetProcessFileVersion Optional String The product version from the version information in the target process image file.

Example: 7.9.5.0
TargetProcessFileInternalName Optional String The product internal file name from the version information of the image file of the target process.
TargetProcessFileOriginalName Optional String The product original file name from the version information of the image file of the target process.
TargetProcessIsHidden Optional Boolean An indication of whether the target process is in hidden mode.
TargetProcessInjectedAddress Optional String The memory address in which the responsible target process is stored.
TargetProcessMD5 Optional MD5 The MD5 hash of the target process image file.

Example: 75a599802f1fa166cdadb360960b1dd0
TargetProcessSHA1 Optional SHA1 The SHA-1 hash of the target process image file.

Example: d55c5a4df19b46db8c54c801c4665d3338acdab0
TargetProcessSHA256 Optional SHA256 The SHA-256 hash of the target process image file.

Example:
e81bb824c4a09a811af17deae22f22dd
2e1ec8cbb00b22629d2899f7c68da274
TargetProcessSHA512 Optional SHA512 The SHA-512 hash of the target process image file.
TargetProcessIMPHASH Optional String The Import Hash of all the library DLLs that are used by the target process.
HashType Recommended String The type of hash stored in the HASH alias field, allowed values are MD5, SHA, SHA256, SHA512 and IMPHASH.
TargetProcessCommandLine Mandatory String The command line used to run the target process.

Example: "choco.exe" -v
TargetProcessCurrentDirectory Optional String The current directory in which the target process is executed.

Example: c:\windows\system32
TargetProcessCreationTime Recommended DateTime The product version from the version information of the target process image file.
TargetProcessId Mandatory String The process ID (PID) of the target process.

Example: 48610176

Note: The type is defined as string to support varying systems, but on Windows and Linux this value must be numeric.

If you are using a Windows or Linux machine and used a different type, make sure to convert the values. For example, if you used a hexadecimal value, convert it to a decimal value.
TargetProcessGuid Optional String A generated unique identifier (GUID) of the target process. Enables identifying the process across systems.

Example: EF3BD0BD-2B74-60C5-AF5C-010000001E00
TargetProcessIntegrityLevel Optional String Every process has an integrity level that is represented in its token. Integrity levels determine the process level of protection or access.

Windows defines the following integrity levels: low, medium, high, and system. Standard users receive a medium integrity level and elevated users receive a high integrity level.

For more information, see Mandatory Integrity Control - Win32 apps.
TargetProcessTokenElevation Optional String Token type indicating the presence or absence of User Access Control (UAC) privilege elevation applied to the process that was created or terminated.

Example: None
TargetProcessStatusCode Optional String The exit code returned by the target process when terminated. This field is valid only for process termination events. For consistency, the field type is string, even if value provided by the operating system is numeric.

Schema updates

These are the changes in version 0.1.1 of the schema:

  • Added the field EventSchema.

These are the changes in version 0.1.2 of the schema

  • Added the fields ActorUserType, ActorOriginalUserType, TargetUserType, TargetOriginalUserType, and HashType.

These are the changes in version 0.1.3 of the schema

  • Changed the fields ParentProcessId and TargetProcessCreationTime from mandatory to recommended.

These are the changes in version 0.1.4 of the schema

  • Added the fields ActorScope, DvcScopeId, and DvcScope.

Next steps

For more information, see: