Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Execution

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2022/05/31"
 3integration = ["endpoint", "windows"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5min_stack_comments = "New fields added: required_fields, related_integrations, setup"
 6min_stack_version = "8.3.0"
 7updated_date = "2024/03/28"
 8
 9[rule]
10author = ["Elastic"]
11description = """
12Identifies potential abuse of the Microsoft Diagnostics Troubleshooting Wizard (MSDT) to proxy malicious command or
13binary execution via malicious process arguments.
14"""
15from = "now-9m"
16index = ["logs-endpoint.events.process-*", "winlogbeat-*", "logs-windows.*", "endgame-*"]
17language = "eql"
18license = "Elastic License v2"
19name = "Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Execution"
20references = [
21    "https://twitter.com/nao_sec/status/1530196847679401984",
22    "https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Msdt/",
23]
24risk_score = 73
25rule_id = "2c3c29a4-f170-42f8-a3d8-2ceebc18eb6a"
26setup = """## Setup
27
28If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2,
29events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until version 8.2.
30Hence for this rule to work effectively, users will need to add a custom ingest pipeline to populate
31`event.ingested` to @timestamp.
32For more details on adding a custom ingest pipeline refer - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/data-streams-pipeline-tutorial.html
33"""
34severity = "high"
35tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Defense Evasion", "Data Source: Elastic Endgame", "Data Source: Elastic Defend"]
36timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
37type = "eql"
38
39query = '''
40process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
41   (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" or process.name : "msdt.exe") and
42   (
43    process.args : ("IT_RebrowseForFile=*", "ms-msdt:/id", "ms-msdt:-id", "*FromBase64*") or
44
45    (process.args : "-af" and process.args : "/skip" and
46     process.parent.name : ("explorer.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "cscript.exe", "wscript.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") and
47     process.args : ("?:\\WINDOWS\\diagnostics\\index\\PCWDiagnostic.xml", "PCWDiagnostic.xml", "?:\\Users\\Public\\*", "?:\\Windows\\Temp\\*")) or
48
49    (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not process.name : "msdt.exe" and process.name != null) or
50
51    (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\system32\\msdt.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msdt.exe"))
52    )
53'''
54
55
56[[rule.threat]]
57framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
58[[rule.threat.technique]]
59id = "T1218"
60name = "System Binary Proxy Execution"
61reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"
62
63
64[rule.threat.tactic]
65id = "TA0005"
66name = "Defense Evasion"
67reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"