MsiExec Service Child Process With Network Connection

Identifies the execution of an MsiExec service child process followed by network or dns lookup activity. Adversaries may abuse Windows Installers for initial access and delivery of malware.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.process-*
logs-endpoint.events.network-*
logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*
logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*

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 Defend
Data Source: Sysmon
Data Source: SentinelOne

Version: 101

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=1m
 [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type : "start" and
  process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" and process.parent.args : "/v" and
  not process.executable :
        ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
         "?:\\Windows\\sysWOW64\\msiexec.exe",
         "?:\\Windows\\system32\\srtasks.exe",
         "?:\\Windows\\syswow64\\srtasks.exe",
         "?:\\Windows\\sys*\\taskkill.exe",
         "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
         "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
         "?:\\Windows\\Installer\\MSI*.tmp",
         "?:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework*\\RegSvcs.exe") and
 not (process.name : ("rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe") and process.args : ("?:\\Program Files\\*", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*"))]
[any where host.os.type == "windows" and event.category in ("network", "dns") and process.name != null]

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/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Msiexec
- ID: T1218.007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/007/

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