Remote File Download via Script Interpreter

Identifies built-in Windows script interpreters (cscript.exe or wscript.exe) being used to download an executable file from a remote destination.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

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

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Command and Control

Version: 3 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.16.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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sequence by host.id, process.entity_id [network where process.name :
("wscript.exe", "cscript.exe") and network.protocol != "dns" and
network.direction : ("outgoing", "egress") and network.type == "ipv4"
and destination.ip != "127.0.0.1" ] [file where event.type ==
"creation" and file.extension : ("exe", "dll")]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Command and Control
- ID: TA0011
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0011/
Technique:
- Name: Ingress Tool Transfer
- ID: T1105
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105/

Rule version history

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Version 3 (7.16.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by host.id, process.entity_id [network where process.name :
("wscript.exe", "cscript.exe") and network.protocol != "dns" and
network.direction == "outgoing" and network.type == "ipv4" and
destination.ip != "127.0.0.1" ] [file where event.type ==
"creation" and file.extension : ("exe", "dll")]

Version 2 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

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