Attachment: OLE external relationship containing file scheme link to executable filetype

This rule identifies attachments containing file scheme links pointing to executable file types, a common indicator of malware distribution. It applies to various suspicious file extensions and archive formats, aiming to prevent the initiation and execution of malicious software.

Sublime rule (View on GitHub)

 1name: "Attachment: OLE external relationship containing file scheme link to executable filetype"
 2description: "This rule identifies attachments containing file scheme links pointing to executable file types, a common indicator of malware distribution. It applies to various suspicious file extensions and archive formats, aiming to prevent the initiation and execution of malicious software."
 3type: "rule"
 4severity: "high"
 5source: |
 6  type.inbound
 7  and any(attachments,
 8          (
 9            .file_extension in~ $file_extensions_macros
10            or .file_extension in~ $file_extensions_common_archives
11            or (
12              .file_extension is null
13              and .file_type == "unknown"
14              and .content_type == "application/octet-stream"
15              and .size < 100000000
16            )
17          )
18          and any(file.oletools(.).relationships,
19                  .target_url.scheme == "file"
20                  and regex.icontains(.target_url.path,
21                                      '\.(action|ahk|apk|app|appimage|applescript|bat|bin|cab|cmd|command|cpl|dll|dmg|exe|gadget|hta|inf|ins|ipa|isu|jar|job|js|jse|lnk|msi|msp|paf|pif|ps1|rgs|run|scr|sct|sh|shb|vb|vbe|vbs)($|[^\w])'
22                  )
23          )
24  )
25  and (
26    not profile.by_sender().any_false_positives
27    or profile.by_sender().any_messages_malicious_or_spam
28  )
29    
30tags:
31  - "Attack surface reduction"
32  - "PikaBot"
33  - "DarkGate"
34attack_types:
35  - "Malware/Ransomware"
36tactics_and_techniques:
37  - "Evasion"
38detection_methods:
39  - "Archive analysis"
40  - "Content analysis"
41  - "OLE analysis"
42  - "Sender analysis"
43
44id: "33bf6fd4-b170-5da2-808a-ffe74af6e21b"

Related rules

to-top