Persistence via Microsoft Outlook VBA

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Detects attempts to establish persistence on an endpoint by installing a rogue Microsoft Outlook VBA Template.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • winlogbeat-*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 43

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Persistence

Version: 2 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.2

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License

Potential false positives

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A legitimate VBA for Outlook is usually configured interactively via OUTLOOK.EXE.

Rule query

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file where event.type != "deletion" and wildcard(file.path,
"C:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Outlook\\VbaProject.OTM")

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version history

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Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
  • Formatting only