IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Outbound Scheduled Task Activity via PowerShell

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Outbound Scheduled Task Activity via PowerShell

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Identifies the PowerShell process loading the Task Scheduler COM DLL followed by an outbound RPC network connection within a short time period. This may indicate lateral movement or remote discovery via scheduled tasks.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

winlogbeat-*
logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://www.volexity.com/blog/2020/12/14/dark-halo-leverages-solarwinds-compromise-to-breach-organizations/

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Discovery
Lateral Movement

Version: 1

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License

Potential false positives

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Legitimate scheduled tasks may be created during installation of new software.

Rule query

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sequence by host.id, process.entity_id with maxspan = 5s [library
where file.name: "taskschd.dll" and process.name: ("powershell.exe",
"pwsh.exe")] [network where process.name : ("powershell.exe",
"pwsh.exe") and destination.port == 135 and not destination.address in
("127.0.0.1", "::1")]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Technique:
- Name: Scheduled Task/Job
- ID: T1053
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/

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