IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.
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Elastic Docs ›Elastic Security Solution [7.10] ›Detections and Alerts ›Prebuilt rule reference

Network Connection via MsXsl

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Network Connection via MsXsl

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Identifies msxsl.exe making a network connection. This may indicate adversarial activity as msxsl.exe is often leveraged by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • winlogbeat-*
  • logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Execution

Version: 4 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.7.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License

Rule query

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sequence by process.entity_id [process where process.name :
"msxsl.exe" and event.type == "start"] [network where process.name :
"msxsl.exe" and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"172.16.0.0/12", "192.168.0.0/16")]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version history

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Version 4 (7.10.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    event.category:network and event.type:connection and
process.name:msxsl.exe and not destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or
172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16)
Version 3 (7.9.1 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 2 (7.9.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    process.name:msxsl.exe and event.action:"Network connection detected
(rule: NetworkConnect)" and not destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or
172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16)
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