Suspicious RDP ActiveX Client Loaded

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/11/19"
 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 suspicious Image Loading of the Remote Desktop Services ActiveX Client (mstscax), this may indicate the
13presence of RDP lateral movement capability.
14"""
15from = "now-9m"
16index = ["logs-endpoint.events.library-*", "winlogbeat-*", "logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*", "endgame-*"]
17language = "eql"
18license = "Elastic License v2"
19name = "Suspicious RDP ActiveX Client Loaded"
20references = [
21    "https://posts.specterops.io/revisiting-remote-desktop-lateral-movement-8fb905cb46c3",
22    "https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/hunting-for-lateral-movement-using-event-query-language",
23]
24risk_score = 47
25rule_id = "71c5cb27-eca5-4151-bb47-64bc3f883270"
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 = "medium"
35tags = [
36    "Domain: Endpoint",
37    "OS: Windows",
38    "Use Case: Threat Detection",
39    "Tactic: Lateral Movement",
40    "Data Source: Elastic Endgame",
41    "Data Source: Elastic Defend",
42    "Data Source: Sysmon",
43]
44timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
45type = "eql"
46
47query = '''
48any where host.os.type == "windows" and
49 (event.category : ("library", "driver") or (event.category == "process" and event.action : "Image loaded*")) and
50 (?dll.name : "mstscax.dll" or file.name : "mstscax.dll") and
51   /* depending on noise in your env add here extra paths  */
52  process.executable : (
53    "C:\\Windows\\*",
54    "C:\\Users\\Public\\*",
55    "C:\\Users\\Default\\*",
56    "C:\\Intel\\*",
57    "C:\\PerfLogs\\*",
58    "C:\\ProgramData\\*",
59    "\\Device\\Mup\\*",
60    "\\\\*"
61  ) and
62  /* add here FPs */
63  not process.executable : (
64    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mstsc.exe",
65    "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\mstsc.exe",
66    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\vmconnect.exe",
67    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsSandboxClient.exe",
68    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\hvsirdpclient.exe"
69  )
70'''
71
72
73[[rule.threat]]
74framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
75[[rule.threat.technique]]
76id = "T1021"
77name = "Remote Services"
78reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1021/"
79[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
80id = "T1021.001"
81name = "Remote Desktop Protocol"
82reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1021/001/"
83
84
85
86[rule.threat.tactic]
87id = "TA0008"
88name = "Lateral Movement"
89reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0008/"