Microsoft Office File Execution via Script Interpreter


Description

Identifies the execution of an executable file written or modified by Microsoft Office processes and via a Windows Shell process.

Query · eql

sequence by user.id with maxspan=1m
  [file where event.action != "deletion" and
    (file.extension : ("exe", "com", "pif", "scr") or
      // Match Windows PE files by header data (MZ)
      file.Ext.header_bytes : "4d5a*") and
    process.name : ("WINWORD.EXE", "EXCEL.EXE", "POWERPNT.EXE", "MSACCESS.EXE")] by file.path
  [process where event.action == "start" and
    process.parent.name : ("powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "cmd.exe", "cscript.exe", "wscript.exe") and
    not process.executable : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe")] by process.executable
Raw source Microsoft Office File Execution via Script Interpreter · Elastic TOML
Esc
Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies the execution of an executable file written or modified by Microsoft Office processes and via a Windows Shell
process.
"""
id = "54aabea0-3687-4ef1-b70c-015ca588e563"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Microsoft Office File Execution via Script Interpreter"
os_list = ["windows"]
version = "1.0.32"

query = '''
sequence by user.id with maxspan=1m
  [file where event.action != "deletion" and
    (file.extension : ("exe", "com", "pif", "scr") or
      // Match Windows PE files by header data (MZ)
      file.Ext.header_bytes : "4d5a*") and
    process.name : ("WINWORD.EXE", "EXCEL.EXE", "POWERPNT.EXE", "MSACCESS.EXE")] by file.path
  [process where event.action == "start" and
    process.parent.name : ("powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "cmd.exe", "cscript.exe", "wscript.exe") and
    not process.executable : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe")] by process.executable
'''

min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 1

[[optional_actions]]
action = "rollback"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 1

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1566"
name = "Phishing"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1566.001"
name = "Spearphishing Attachment"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566/001/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0001"
name = "Initial Access"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0001/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

Detection rules belong to the projects that publish them and remain under their own licenses. This site indexes and links to them; it claims no rights in them.