Mshta Making Network Connections

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/09/02"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5updated_date = "2024/05/21"
 6
 7[rule]
 8author = ["Elastic"]
 9description = """
10Identifies Mshta.exe making outbound network connections. This may indicate adversarial activity, as Mshta is often
11leveraged by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.
12"""
13from = "now-20m"
14index = [
15    "logs-endpoint.events.process-*",
16    "logs-endpoint.events.network-*",
17    "winlogbeat-*",
18    "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*",
19]
20language = "eql"
21license = "Elastic License v2"
22name = "Mshta Making Network Connections"
23risk_score = 47
24rule_id = "c2d90150-0133-451c-a783-533e736c12d7"
25severity = "medium"
26tags = [
27    "Domain: Endpoint",
28    "OS: Windows",
29    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
30    "Tactic: Defense Evasion",
31    "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
32    "Data Source: Sysmon",
33]
34type = "eql"
35
36query = '''
37sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=10m
38  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.name : "mshta.exe" and
39     not process.parent.name : "Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.exe" and
40     not (process.parent.executable : "C:\\Amazon\\Amazon Assistant\\amazonAssistantService.exe" or
41          process.parent.executable : "C:\\TeamViewer\\TeamViewer.exe") and
42     not process.args : "ADSelfService_Enroll.hta"]
43  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "mshta.exe"]
44'''
45
46
47[[rule.threat]]
48framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
49[[rule.threat.technique]]
50id = "T1218"
51name = "System Binary Proxy Execution"
52reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"
53[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
54id = "T1218.005"
55name = "Mshta"
56reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/005/"
57
58
59
60[rule.threat.tactic]
61id = "TA0005"
62name = "Defense Evasion"
63reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"