Execution of Persistent Suspicious Program

Identifies execution of suspicious persistent programs (scripts, rundll32, etc.) by looking at process lineage and command line usage.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.process-*
logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*
endgame-*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

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

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

Domain: Endpoint
OS: Windows
Use Case: Threat Detection
Tactic: Persistence
Data Source: Elastic Endgame
Data Source: Elastic Defend
Data Source: Sysmon

Version: 207

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

/* userinit followed by explorer followed by early child process of explorer (unlikely to be launched interactively) within 1m */
sequence by host.id, user.name with maxspan=1m
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.name : "userinit.exe" and process.parent.name : "winlogon.exe"]
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.name : "explorer.exe"]
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.parent.name : "explorer.exe" and
   /* add suspicious programs here */
   process.pe.original_file_name in ("cscript.exe",
                                     "wscript.exe",
                                     "PowerShell.EXE",
                                     "MSHTA.EXE",
                                     "RUNDLL32.EXE",
                                     "REGSVR32.EXE",
                                     "RegAsm.exe",
                                     "MSBuild.exe",
                                     "InstallUtil.exe") and
    /* add potential suspicious paths here */
    process.args : ("C:\\Users\\*", "C:\\ProgramData\\*", "C:\\Windows\\Temp\\*", "C:\\Windows\\Tasks\\*", "C:\\PerfLogs\\*", "C:\\Intel\\*")
   ]

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Boot or Logon Autostart Execution
- ID: T1547
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
- ID: T1547.001
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/001/

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