Microsoft Equation Editor Child Process


Description

Identifies suspicious child processes of the Microsoft Equation Editor process, which is frequently targeted by attackers using weaponized Microsoft Office documents. These child processes are often launched during exploitation of Office applications via known vulnerabilities CVE-2017-1182 or CVE-2018-0798.

Query · eql

process where event.action == "start" and process.parent.name : "EQNEDT32.EXE" and
  not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe")
Raw source Microsoft Equation Editor Child Process · Elastic TOML
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Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies suspicious child processes of the Microsoft Equation Editor process, which is frequently targeted by
attackers using weaponized Microsoft Office documents. These child processes are often launched during exploitation of
Office applications via known vulnerabilities CVE-2017-1182 or CVE-2018-0798.
"""
id = "60eb5960-b26e-494a-8cf2-35ab5939f6c1"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Microsoft Equation Editor Child Process"
os_list = ["windows"]
reference = [
    "https://www.anomali.com/blog/multiple-chinese-threat-groups-exploiting-cve-2018-0798-equation-editor-vulnerability-since-late-2018",
    "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-11882",
    "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0798",
]
version = "1.0.31"

query = '''
process where event.action == "start" and process.parent.name : "EQNEDT32.EXE" and
  not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\WerFault.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\WerFault.exe")
'''

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 = "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/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1203"
name = "Exploitation for Client Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1203/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

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