Mshta Making Network Connections

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/09/02"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5updated_date = "2024/10/15"
 6min_stack_version = "8.14.0"
 7min_stack_comments = "Breaking change at 8.14.0 for the Windows Integration."
 8
 9[rule]
10author = ["Elastic"]
11description = """
12Identifies Mshta.exe making outbound network connections. This may indicate adversarial activity, as Mshta is often
13leveraged by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.
14"""
15from = "now-20m"
16index = [
17    "logs-endpoint.events.process-*",
18    "logs-endpoint.events.network-*",
19    "winlogbeat-*",
20    "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*",
21]
22language = "eql"
23license = "Elastic License v2"
24name = "Mshta Making Network Connections"
25references = [
26    "https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/elastic-protects-against-data-wiper-malware-targeting-ukraine-hermeticwiper",
27]
28risk_score = 47
29rule_id = "c2d90150-0133-451c-a783-533e736c12d7"
30severity = "medium"
31tags = [
32    "Domain: Endpoint",
33    "OS: Windows",
34    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
35    "Tactic: Defense Evasion",
36    "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
37    "Data Source: Sysmon",
38]
39type = "eql"
40
41query = '''
42sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=10m
43  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.name : "mshta.exe" and
44     not process.parent.name : "Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.exe" and
45     not (process.parent.executable : "C:\\Amazon\\Amazon Assistant\\amazonAssistantService.exe" or
46          process.parent.executable : "C:\\TeamViewer\\TeamViewer.exe") and
47     not process.args : "ADSelfService_Enroll.hta"]
48  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "mshta.exe"]
49'''
50
51
52[[rule.threat]]
53framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
54[[rule.threat.technique]]
55id = "T1218"
56name = "System Binary Proxy Execution"
57reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"
58[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
59id = "T1218.005"
60name = "Mshta"
61reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/005/"
62
63
64
65[rule.threat.tactic]
66id = "TA0005"
67name = "Defense Evasion"
68reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"