Unusual Process Running as Antimalware Protected


Description

Identifies when commonly abused signed binaries are running as Antimalware Light protection level. This may indicate an attempt to bypass PPL protection and inject malicious code into a protected process or disable security software.

Query · eql

process where event.action == "start" and

(process.Ext.protection == "PsProtectedSignerAntimalware-Light" and
   process.pe.original_file_name :
     ("AddInProcess.exe",
      "AddInProcess32.exe",
      "AddInUtil.exe",
      "AppLaunch.exe",
      "aspnet_compiler.exe",
      "aspnet_regbrowsers.exe",
      "aspnet_regiis.exe",
      "aspnet_regsql.exe",
      "aspnet_state.exe",
      "aspnet_wp.exe",
      "CasPol.exe",
      "ComSvcConfig.exe",
      "csc.exe",
      "cvtres.exe",
      "DataSvcUtil.exe",
      "EdmGen.exe",
      "ilasm.exe",
      "InstallUtil.exe",
      "jsc.exe",
      "Microsoft.Workflow.Compiler.exe",
      "MSBuild.exe",
      "mscorsvw.exe",
      "ngen.exe",
      "ngentask.exe",
      "RegAsm.exe",
      "RegSvcs.exe",
      "ServiceModelReg.exe",
      "vbc.exe",
      "WsatConfig.exe",
      "dllhost.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "GPUpdate.exe",
      "SearchProtocolHost.exe",
      "msiexec.exe",
      "powershell.exe",
      "cmd.exe",
      "rundll32.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "mshta.exe")) or

descendant of
 [process where event.action == "start" and
  process.Ext.protection == "PsProtectedSignerAntimalware-Light" and
  process.pe.original_file_name :
     ("AddInProcess.exe",
      "AddInProcess32.exe",
      "AddInUtil.exe",
      "AppLaunch.exe",
      "aspnet_compiler.exe",
      "aspnet_regbrowsers.exe",
      "aspnet_regiis.exe",
      "aspnet_regsql.exe",
      "aspnet_state.exe",
      "aspnet_wp.exe",
      "CasPol.exe",
      "ComSvcConfig.exe",
      "csc.exe",
      "cvtres.exe",
      "DataSvcUtil.exe",
      "EdmGen.exe",
      "ilasm.exe",
      "InstallUtil.exe",
      "jsc.exe",
      "Microsoft.Workflow.Compiler.exe",
      "MSBuild.exe",
      "mscorsvw.exe",
      "ngen.exe",
      "ngentask.exe",
      "RegAsm.exe",
      "RegSvcs.exe",
      "ServiceModelReg.exe",
      "vbc.exe",
      "WsatConfig.exe",
      "dllhost.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "GPUpdate.exe",
      "SearchProtocolHost.exe",
      "msiexec.exe",
      "powershell.exe",
      "pwsh.exe",
      "cmd.exe",
      "rundll32.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "mshta.exe")]
Raw source Unusual Process Running as Antimalware Protected · Elastic TOML
Esc
Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies when commonly abused signed binaries are running as Antimalware Light protection level. This may indicate an
attempt to bypass PPL protection and inject malicious code into a protected process or disable security software.
"""
id = "952e978e-5326-42d4-95df-9fceae0bca70"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Unusual Process Running as Antimalware Protected"
os_list = ["windows"]
reference = [
    "https://github.com/mattifestation/AntimalwareBlight",
    "https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/elastic-security-labs-steps-through-the-r77-rootkit",
]
version = "1.0.25"

query = '''
process where event.action == "start" and

(process.Ext.protection == "PsProtectedSignerAntimalware-Light" and
   process.pe.original_file_name :
     ("AddInProcess.exe",
      "AddInProcess32.exe",
      "AddInUtil.exe",
      "AppLaunch.exe",
      "aspnet_compiler.exe",
      "aspnet_regbrowsers.exe",
      "aspnet_regiis.exe",
      "aspnet_regsql.exe",
      "aspnet_state.exe",
      "aspnet_wp.exe",
      "CasPol.exe",
      "ComSvcConfig.exe",
      "csc.exe",
      "cvtres.exe",
      "DataSvcUtil.exe",
      "EdmGen.exe",
      "ilasm.exe",
      "InstallUtil.exe",
      "jsc.exe",
      "Microsoft.Workflow.Compiler.exe",
      "MSBuild.exe",
      "mscorsvw.exe",
      "ngen.exe",
      "ngentask.exe",
      "RegAsm.exe",
      "RegSvcs.exe",
      "ServiceModelReg.exe",
      "vbc.exe",
      "WsatConfig.exe",
      "dllhost.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "GPUpdate.exe",
      "SearchProtocolHost.exe",
      "msiexec.exe",
      "powershell.exe",
      "cmd.exe",
      "rundll32.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "mshta.exe")) or

descendant of
 [process where event.action == "start" and
  process.Ext.protection == "PsProtectedSignerAntimalware-Light" and
  process.pe.original_file_name :
     ("AddInProcess.exe",
      "AddInProcess32.exe",
      "AddInUtil.exe",
      "AppLaunch.exe",
      "aspnet_compiler.exe",
      "aspnet_regbrowsers.exe",
      "aspnet_regiis.exe",
      "aspnet_regsql.exe",
      "aspnet_state.exe",
      "aspnet_wp.exe",
      "CasPol.exe",
      "ComSvcConfig.exe",
      "csc.exe",
      "cvtres.exe",
      "DataSvcUtil.exe",
      "EdmGen.exe",
      "ilasm.exe",
      "InstallUtil.exe",
      "jsc.exe",
      "Microsoft.Workflow.Compiler.exe",
      "MSBuild.exe",
      "mscorsvw.exe",
      "ngen.exe",
      "ngentask.exe",
      "RegAsm.exe",
      "RegSvcs.exe",
      "ServiceModelReg.exe",
      "vbc.exe",
      "WsatConfig.exe",
      "dllhost.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "GPUpdate.exe",
      "SearchProtocolHost.exe",
      "msiexec.exe",
      "powershell.exe",
      "pwsh.exe",
      "cmd.exe",
      "rundll32.exe",
      "regsvr32.exe",
      "mshta.exe")]
'''

min_endpoint_version = "7.16.0"
[[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 = "T1211"
name = "Exploitation for Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1211/"

[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1574"
name = "Hijack Execution Flow"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1574/"


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

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.16.0"

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