IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

« Suspicious Managed Code Hosting Process Suspicious Network Connection Attempt by Root »

› › ›

Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Execution

edit

Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Execution

edit

Identifies potential abuse of the Microsoft Diagnostics Troubleshooting Wizard (MSDT) to proxy malicious command or binary execution via malicious process arguments.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.*
winlogbeat-*
logs-windows.*

Severity: high

Risk score: 73

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
Defense Evasion

Version: 101 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 8.3.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.5.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

edit

Rule query

edit

process where event.type == "start" and
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" or process.name :
"msdt.exe") and ( process.args : ("IT_RebrowseForFile=*", "ms-
msdt:/id", "ms-msdt:-id", "*FromBase64*") or (process.args :
"-af" and process.args : "/skip" and process.parent.name :
("explorer.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "cscript.exe",
"wscript.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") and
process.args : ("?:\\WINDOWS\\diagnostics\\index\\PCWDiagnostic.xml",
"PCWDiagnostic.xml", "?:\\Users\\Public\\*", "?:\\Windows\\Temp\\*"))
or (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.name : "msdt.exe" and process.name != null) or
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\system32\\msdt.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msdt.exe")) )

Threat mapping

edit

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: System Binary Proxy Execution
- ID: T1218
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/

Rule version history

edit

Version 101 (8.5.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" or process.name :
"msdt.exe") and ( process.args : ("IT_RebrowseForFile=*", "ms-
msdt:/id", "ms-msdt:-id", "*FromBase64*") or (process.args :
"-af" and process.args : "/skip" and process.parent.name :
("explorer.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "cscript.exe",
"wscript.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") and
process.args : ("?:\\WINDOWS\\diagnostics\\index\\PCWDiagnostic.xml",
"PCWDiagnostic.xml", "?:\\Users\\Public\\*", "?:\\Windows\\Temp\\*"))
or (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.name : "msdt.exe" and process.name != null) or
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\system32\\msdt.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msdt.exe")) )

Version 3 (8.4.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" or process.name :
"msdt.exe") and ( process.args : ("IT_RebrowseForFile=*", "ms-
msdt:/id", "ms-msdt:-id", "*FromBase64*") or (process.args :
"-af" and process.args : "/skip" and process.parent.name :
("explorer.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "cscript.exe",
"wscript.exe", "mshta.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") and
process.args : ("?:\\WINDOWS\\diagnostics\\index\\PCWDiagnostic.xml",
"PCWDiagnostic.xml", "?:\\Users\\Public\\*", "?:\\Windows\\Temp\\*"))
or (process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.name : "msdt.exe" and process.name != null) or
(process.pe.original_file_name == "msdt.exe" and not
process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\system32\\msdt.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msdt.exe")) )

« Suspicious Managed Code Hosting Process Suspicious Network Connection Attempt by Root »