IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates
will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the
current release documentation.
Persistence via Microsoft Outlook VBA
editPersistence via Microsoft Outlook VBA
editDetects attempts to establish persistence on an endpoint by installing a rogue Microsoft Outlook VBA Template.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- logs-endpoint.events.*
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-windows.*
Severity: medium
Risk score: 47
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: 4 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.2.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positives
editA legitimate VBA for Outlook is usually configured interactively via OUTLOOK.EXE.
Investigation guide
edit## Config If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate `event.ingested` to @timestamp for this rule to work.
Rule query
editfile where event.type != "deletion" and file.path : "C:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Outlook\\VbaProject.OTM"
Threat mapping
editFramework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
-
Technique:
- Name: Office Application Startup
- ID: T1137
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1137/
Rule version history
edit- Version 4 (8.2.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
file where event.type != "deletion" and wildcard(file.path, "C:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Outlook\\VbaProject.OTM")
-
- Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only