A scheduled task was created

Indicates the creation of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence, move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.

Elastic rule (View on GitHub)

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2022/08/29"
 3integration = ["system", "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 = """
12Indicates the creation of a scheduled task using Windows event logs. Adversaries can use these to establish persistence,
13move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.
14"""
15false_positives = ["Legitimate scheduled tasks may be created during installation of new software."]
16from = "now-9m"
17index = ["winlogbeat-*", "logs-system.*", "logs-windows.*"]
18language = "eql"
19license = "Elastic License v2"
20name = "A scheduled task was created"
21references = ["https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4698"]
22risk_score = 21
23rule_id = "92a6faf5-78ec-4e25-bea1-73bacc9b59d9"
24severity = "low"
25tags = ["Domain: Endpoint", "OS: Windows", "Use Case: Threat Detection", "Tactic: Persistence", "Data Source: System"]
26timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
27type = "eql"
28
29query = '''
30iam where event.action == "scheduled-task-created" and
31
32 /* excluding tasks created by the computer account */
33 not user.name : "*$" and
34
35 /* TaskContent is not parsed, exclude by full taskname noisy ones */
36 not winlog.event_data.TaskName : (
37              "\\CreateExplorerShellUnelevatedTask",
38              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HPDeviceCheck",
39              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Support Assistant\\WarrantyChecker",
40              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Support Assistant\\WarrantyChecker_backup",
41              "\\Hewlett-Packard\\HP Web Products Detection",
42              "\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\Updates\\BackgroundDownload",
43              "\\OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-5-21*",
44              "\\OneDrive Standalone Update Task-S-1-12-1-*"
45 )
46'''
47
48
49[[rule.threat]]
50framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
51[[rule.threat.technique]]
52id = "T1053"
53name = "Scheduled Task/Job"
54reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/"
55[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
56id = "T1053.005"
57name = "Scheduled Task"
58reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/005/"
59
60
61
62[rule.threat.tactic]
63id = "TA0003"
64name = "Persistence"
65reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/"

References

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