Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Executionedit
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.*
- endgame-*
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
- Elastic Endgame
Version: 102 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 8.3.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.6.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Investigation guideedit
Rule queryedit
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 mappingedit
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
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 historyedit
- Version 102 (8.6.0 release)
-
- Formatting only
- 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")) )
-