Network Connection via MsXsl

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/03/18"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5min_stack_comments = "New fields added: required_fields, related_integrations, setup"
 6min_stack_version = "8.3.0"
 7updated_date = "2024/04/08"
 8
 9[rule]
10author = ["Elastic"]
11description = """
12Identifies msxsl.exe making a network connection. This may indicate adversarial activity as msxsl.exe is often leveraged
13by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.
14"""
15from = "now-9m"
16index = ["winlogbeat-*", "logs-endpoint.events.process-*", "logs-endpoint.events.network-*", "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*"]
17language = "eql"
18license = "Elastic License v2"
19name = "Network Connection via MsXsl"
20references = ["https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-registry/iana-ipv4-special-registry.xhtml"]
21risk_score = 21
22rule_id = "b86afe07-0d98-4738-b15d-8d7465f95ff5"
23severity = "low"
24tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Defense Evasion", "Data Source: Elastic Defend", "Data Source: Sysmon"]
25type = "eql"
26
27query = '''
28sequence by process.entity_id
29  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and event.type == "start"]
30  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and
31     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",
32       "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",
33       "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",
34       "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",
35       "FE80::/10", "FF00::/8")]
36'''
37
38
39[[rule.threat]]
40framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
41[[rule.threat.technique]]
42id = "T1220"
43name = "XSL Script Processing"
44reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1220/"
45
46
47[rule.threat.tactic]
48id = "TA0005"
49name = "Defense Evasion"
50reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"