Msiexec Quiet Installation
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: Msiexec Quiet Installation
2id: 79a87aa6-e4bd-42fc-a5bb-5e6fbdcd62f5
3status: experimental
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://docs.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/1583914244344799235
11author: frack113
12date: 2022/01/16
13modified: 2023/03/23
14tags:
15 - attack.defense_evasion
16 - attack.t1218.007
17logsource:
18 category: process_creation
19 product: windows
20detection:
21 selection_img:
22 - Image|endswith: '\msiexec.exe'
23 - OriginalFileName: 'msiexec.exe'
24 selection_cli:
25 # Note that there is no space before and after the arguments because it's possible to write a commandline as such
26 # Example: msiexec -q/i [MSI Package]
27 CommandLine|contains:
28 - '/i'
29 - '-i'
30 - '/package'
31 - '-package'
32 - '/a'
33 - '-a'
34 - '/j'
35 - '-j'
36 selection_quiet:
37 CommandLine|contains:
38 - '/q'
39 - '-q'
40 filter_user_temp:
41 # The %temp% is a very common location for installers
42 ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\Users\'
43 ParentImage|contains: '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
44 filter_system_temp:
45 ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\Windows\Temp\'
46 filter_ccm:
47 ParentImage: 'C:\Windows\CCM\Ccm32BitLauncher.exe'
48 IntegrityLevel: 'System'
49 condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*
50falsepositives:
51 - WindowsApps installing updates via the quiet flag
52level: medium