Suspicious File Rename by an Unusual Process


Description

Identifies the execution of commonly abused signed proxy execution utilities such as rundll32, regsvr32 and powershell followed by a suspicious file rename operation. This may indicate Ransomware behavior leveraging legit Windows utilities.

Query · eql

sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=5m
 [process where event.action == "start" and process.name : ("rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe")]
 [file where event.action : "rename" and
  file.extension != null and file.Ext.entropy >= 7 and
  file.Ext.original.name : ("*.jpg", "*.bmp", "*.png", "*.pdf", "*.doc", "*.docx", "*.xls", "*.xlsx", "*.ppt", "*.pptx") and
  not file.extension : ("tmp", "~tmp", "diff", "gz", "download", "bak", "bck", "lnk", "part", "save", "url", "jpg", "bmp",
                        "png", "pdf", "doc", "docx", "xls", "xlsx", "ppt", "pptx")]
Raw source Suspicious File Rename by an Unusual Process · Elastic TOML
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Published by elastic/protections-artifacts ↗, licensed under Elastic License 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
[rule]
description = """
Identifies the execution of commonly abused signed proxy execution utilities such as rundll32, regsvr32 and powershell
followed by a suspicious file rename operation. This may indicate Ransomware behavior leveraging legit Windows
utilities.
"""
id = "df874d7e-6639-44ce-b47d-96254022ccd5"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Suspicious File Rename by an Unusual Process"
os_list = ["windows"]
version = "1.0.28"

query = '''
sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=5m
 [process where event.action == "start" and process.name : ("rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe")]
 [file where event.action : "rename" and
  file.extension != null and file.Ext.entropy >= 7 and
  file.Ext.original.name : ("*.jpg", "*.bmp", "*.png", "*.pdf", "*.doc", "*.docx", "*.xls", "*.xlsx", "*.ppt", "*.pptx") and
  not file.extension : ("tmp", "~tmp", "diff", "gz", "download", "bak", "bck", "lnk", "part", "save", "url", "jpg", "bmp",
                        "png", "pdf", "doc", "docx", "xls", "xlsx", "ppt", "pptx")]
'''

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 = "T1059"
name = "Command and Scripting Interpreter"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1059.001"
name = "PowerShell"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/001/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1218"
name = "System Binary Proxy Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1218.010"
name = "Regsvr32"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/010/"

[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1218.011"
name = "Rundll32"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/011/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1486"
name = "Data Encrypted for Impact"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1486/"

[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1490"
name = "Inhibit System Recovery"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/"


[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0040"
name = "Impact"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0040/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

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