Scheduled Task Created by a Windows Scriptedit

A scheduled task was created by a Windows script via cscript.exe, wscript.exe or powershell.exe. This can be abused by an adversary to establish persistence.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

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:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Persistence

Version: 4

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guideedit

## Triage and analysis

Decode the base64 encoded Tasks Actions registry value to investigate the task's configured action.

Rule queryedit

sequence by host.id with maxspan = 30s
  [library where dll.name : "taskschd.dll" and process.name : ("cscript.exe", "wscript.exe", "powershell.exe")]
  [registry where registry.path : "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Schedule\\TaskCache\\Tasks\\*\\Actions"]

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM