Suspicious WMIC XSL Script Execution


Description

Identifies Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line utility (WMIC) whitelisting bypass attempts by alerting on suspicious execution of scripts. When WMIC loads scripting libraries, it may be indicative of an attempt to bypass application whitelisting

Query · eql

sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=2m
[process where event.action == "start" and
   (process.name : "WMIC.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name : "wmic.exe") and
   process.command_line : ("* format*:*", "*/format*:*", "*-format*:*") and
   not process.command_line :
              (
               "*format:list*",
               "*format:table*",
               "*format:htable",
               "*format:texttablewsys*",
               "*format:texttable*",
               "*format:textvaluelist*",
               "*format:TEXTVALUELIST*",
               "*format:csv*",
               "*format:value*"
               ) and
   not process.parent.executable : "?:\\Program Files\\Trend Micro\\Titanium\\plugin\\Pt\\win32\\inspect\\Inspect.exe"]
[library where dll.name : ("jscript.dll", "vbscript.dll")]
Raw source Suspicious WMIC XSL Script Execution · Elastic TOML
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Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line utility (WMIC) whitelisting bypass attempts by alerting on
suspicious execution of scripts. When WMIC loads scripting libraries, it may be indicative of an attempt to bypass
application whitelisting
"""
id = "18371ec4-ee2f-465b-8757-ee726914006c"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Suspicious WMIC XSL Script Execution"
os_list = ["windows"]
version = "1.0.32"

query = '''
sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=2m
[process where event.action == "start" and
   (process.name : "WMIC.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name : "wmic.exe") and
   process.command_line : ("* format*:*", "*/format*:*", "*-format*:*") and
   not process.command_line :
              (
               "*format:list*",
               "*format:table*",
               "*format:htable",
               "*format:texttablewsys*",
               "*format:texttable*",
               "*format:textvaluelist*",
               "*format:TEXTVALUELIST*",
               "*format:csv*",
               "*format:value*"
               ) and
   not process.parent.executable : "?:\\Program Files\\Trend Micro\\Titanium\\plugin\\Pt\\win32\\inspect\\Inspect.exe"]
[library where dll.name : ("jscript.dll", "vbscript.dll")]
'''

min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0

[[optional_actions]]
action = "rollback"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1047"
name = "Windows Management Instrumentation"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1047/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1220"
name = "XSL Script Processing"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1220/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

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