Windows Installer with Suspicious Properties

Identifies the execution of an installer from an archive or with suspicious properties. Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to launch local or network accessible MSI files in an attempt to bypass application whitelisting.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 60m

Searches indices from: now-119m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Msiexec/

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Windows
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Defense Evasion
Rule Type: BBR
Data Source: Elastic Defend

Version: 2

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

sequence with maxspan=1m
  [registry where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "change" and process.name : "msiexec.exe" and
   (
    (registry.value : "InstallSource" and
     registry.data.strings : ("?:\\Users\\*\\Temp\\Temp?_*.zip\\*",
                             "?:\\Users\\*\\*.7z\\*",
                             "?:\\Users\\*\\*.rar\\*")) or

    (registry.value : ("DisplayName", "ProductName") and registry.data.strings : "SetupTest")
    )]
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action == "start" and
    process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" and
    not process.name : "msiexec.exe" and
    not (process.executable : ("?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe") and process.code_signature.trusted == true)]

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: System Binary Proxy Execution
- ID: T1218
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Msiexec
- ID: T1218.007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/007/

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