Suspicious RDP ActiveX Client Loaded

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2020/11/19"
 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 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 = ["https://posts.specterops.io/revisiting-remote-desktop-lateral-movement-8fb905cb46c3"]
21risk_score = 47
22rule_id = "71c5cb27-eca5-4151-bb47-64bc3f883270"
23setup = """## Setup
24
25If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2,
26events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until version 8.2.
27Hence for this rule to work effectively, users will need to add a custom ingest pipeline to populate
28`event.ingested` to @timestamp.
29For more details on adding a custom ingest pipeline refer - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/data-streams-pipeline-tutorial.html
30"""
31severity = "medium"
32tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Lateral Movement", "Data Source: Elastic Endgame", "Data Source: Elastic Defend", "Data Source: Sysmon"]
33timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
34type = "eql"
35
36query = '''
37any where host.os.type == "windows" and
38 (event.category : ("library", "driver") or (event.category == "process" and event.action : "Image loaded*")) and
39 (?dll.name : "mstscax.dll" or file.name : "mstscax.dll") and
40   /* depending on noise in your env add here extra paths  */
41  process.executable : (
42    "C:\\Windows\\*",
43    "C:\\Users\\Public\\*",
44    "C:\\Users\\Default\\*",
45    "C:\\Intel\\*",
46    "C:\\PerfLogs\\*",
47    "C:\\ProgramData\\*",
48    "\\Device\\Mup\\*",
49    "\\\\*"
50  ) and
51  /* add here FPs */
52  not process.executable : (
53    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\mstsc.exe",
54    "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\mstsc.exe",
55    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\vmconnect.exe",
56    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsSandboxClient.exe",
57    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\hvsirdpclient.exe"
58  )
59'''
60
61
62[[rule.threat]]
63framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
64[[rule.threat.technique]]
65id = "T1021"
66name = "Remote Services"
67reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1021/"
68
69[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
70id = "T1021.001"
71name = "Remote Desktop Protocol"
72reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1021/001/"
73
74[rule.threat.tactic]
75id = "TA0008"
76name = "Lateral Movement"
77reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0008/"