Network Connection via MsXsl

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/03/18"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5updated_date = "2024/05/21"
 6
 7[rule]
 8author = ["Elastic"]
 9description = """
10Identifies msxsl.exe making a network connection. This may indicate adversarial activity as msxsl.exe is often leveraged
11by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.
12"""
13from = "now-9m"
14index = [
15    "winlogbeat-*",
16    "logs-endpoint.events.process-*",
17    "logs-endpoint.events.network-*",
18    "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*",
19]
20language = "eql"
21license = "Elastic License v2"
22name = "Network Connection via MsXsl"
23references = ["https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-registry/iana-ipv4-special-registry.xhtml"]
24risk_score = 21
25rule_id = "b86afe07-0d98-4738-b15d-8d7465f95ff5"
26severity = "low"
27tags = [
28    "Domain: Endpoint",
29    "OS: Windows",
30    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
31    "Tactic: Defense Evasion",
32    "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
33    "Data Source: Sysmon",
34]
35type = "eql"
36
37query = '''
38sequence by process.entity_id
39  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and event.type == "start"]
40  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and
41     not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8", "127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
42       "192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32", "192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32",
43       "192.0.2.0/24", "192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4",
44       "100.64.0.0/10", "192.175.48.0/24","198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1",
45       "FE80::/10", "FF00::/8")]
46'''
47
48
49[[rule.threat]]
50framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
51[[rule.threat.technique]]
52id = "T1220"
53name = "XSL Script Processing"
54reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1220/"
55
56
57[rule.threat.tactic]
58id = "TA0005"
59name = "Defense Evasion"
60reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"