Network Connection via Mshta

Identifies mshta.exe making a network connection. This may indicate adversarial activity, as mshta.exe is often leveraged by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.

Rule type: eql
Rule indices:

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

Rule Severity: medium
Risk Score: 47
Runs every:
Searches indices from: now-9m
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:

• https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2017/05/cyber-espionage-apt32.html

Tags:

• Elastic
• Host
• Windows
• Threat Detection
• Defense Evasion

Version: 100
Rule authors:

• Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

/* duplicate of Mshta Making Network Connections - c2d90150-0133-451c-a783-533e736c12d7 */

sequence by process.entity_id
  [process where process.name : "mshta.exe" and event.type == "start"]
  [network where process.name : "mshta.exe"]
		

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK

• Tactic:

  • Name: Defense Evasion
  • Id: TA0005
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/

• Technique:

  • Name: Signed Binary Proxy Execution
  • Id: T1218
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/

• Sub Technique:

  • Name: Mshta
  • Id: T1218.005
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/005/