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Suspicious Microsoft Diagnostics Wizard Execution
editSuspicious 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")) )
-