Suspicious Msiexec Execute Arbitrary DLL

calendar Apr 28, 2026 · attack.stealth attack.t1218.007  ·
Share on: linkedin copy

Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to proxy execution of malicious payloads. Msiexec.exe is the command-line utility for the Windows Installer and is thus commonly associated with executing installation packages (.msi)

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: Suspicious Msiexec Execute Arbitrary DLL
 2id: 6f4191bb-912b-48a8-9ce7-682769541e6d
 3status: test
 4description: |
 5    Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to proxy execution of malicious payloads.
 6    Msiexec.exe is the command-line utility for the Windows Installer and is thus commonly associated with executing installation packages (.msi)    
 7references:
 8    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/msiexec
 9    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1218.007/T1218.007.md
10    - https://twitter.com/_st0pp3r_/status/1583914515996897281
11author: frack113
12date: 2022-01-16
13modified: 2026-01-09
14tags:
15    - attack.stealth
16    - attack.t1218.007
17logsource:
18    category: process_creation
19    product: windows
20detection:
21    selection:
22        Image|endswith: '\msiexec.exe'
23        CommandLine|contains|windash: ' /Y'
24    filter_main_legit_path:
25        CommandLine|contains:
26            - '\MsiExec.exe" /Y "C:\Program Files\'
27            - '\MsiExec.exe" /Y "C:\Program Files (x86)\'
28            - '\MsiExec.exe" /Y "C:\Windows\System32\'
29            - '\MsiExec.exe" /Y "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\'
30    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
31falsepositives:
32    - Legitimate script
33level: medium

References

Related rules

to-top