Process Termination followed by Deletion

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Identifies a process termination event quickly followed by the deletion of its executable file. Malware tools and other non-native files dropped or created on a system by an adversary may leave traces to indicate to what occurred. Removal of these files can occur during an intrusion, or as part of a post-intrusion process to minimize the adversary’s footprint.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • endgame-*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

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

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

  • Domain: Endpoint
  • OS: Windows
  • Use Case: Threat Detection
  • Tactic: Defense Evasion
  • Data Source: Elastic Endgame

Version: 104

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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sequence by host.id with maxspan=5s
   [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "end" and
    process.code_signature.trusted != true and
    not process.executable : ("C:\\Windows\\SoftwareDistribution\\*.exe", "C:\\Windows\\WinSxS\\*.exe")
   ] by process.executable
   [file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "deletion" and file.extension : ("exe", "scr", "com") and
    not process.executable :
             ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
              "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
              "?:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
              "?:\\Windows\\System32\\drvinst.exe") and
    not file.path : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe")
   ] by file.path

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM