Elastic Defend high stable eql

Script Interpreter Process Writing to Commonly Abused Persistence Locations

Identifies a Windows script interpreter writing to two persistence locations (registry run keys and startup folder). Adversaries may use this technique to maintain multiple methods of persistence on an endpoint.

View Source

Detection Logic

sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=5m
  [process where event.action == "start" and
   process.pe.original_file_name : ("cscript.exe", "wscript.exe", "powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "mshta.exe", "java.exe") and
   not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.parent.executable : "C:\\Windows\\ccmcache\\*.exe") and
   not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.parent.name : "cmd.exe" and process.parent.args : ("?:\\Windows\\ccmcache\\*", "\\\\*")) and
   not (process.name : "powershell.exe" and process.command_line : "*\\cc-agent-install\\*\\CommandCenterAgent.ps1*")
   ]
  [any where event.category : ("registry", "file") and event.action != "deletion" and
   (
    (registry.data.strings != null and
     registry.path :
            ("*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnce\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnceEx\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnce\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\Run\\*")) or
    (file.name != null and file.path : "?:\\*\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\*")
   )
   ]
 [any where event.category : ("registry", "file") and event.action != "deletion" and
   (
    (registry.data.strings != null and
     registry.path :
            ("*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnce\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnceEx\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\RunOnce\\*",
             "*\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\Run\\*",
             "*\\Software\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer\\Run\\*")) or
    (file.name != null and file.path : "?:\\*\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\*")
   )
   ]

Field Validations

Loading…

Comments (0)

Loading comments...