Persistence via TelemetryController Scheduled Task Hijack

Detects the successful hijacking of Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser scheduled task to establish persistence with an integrity level of system.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: high

Risk score: 73

Runs every: 5m

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

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/abusing-windows-telemetry-for-persistence/?utm_content=131234033&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-403811306

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Persistence

Version: 7

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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## Config

If enabling an EQL rule on a non-elastic-agent index (such as beats) for versions <8.2, events will not define `event.ingested` and default fallback for EQL rules was not added until 8.2, so you will need to add a custom pipeline to populate `event.ingested` to @timestamp for this rule to work.

Rule query

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process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
  process.parent.name : "CompatTelRunner.exe" and process.args : "-cv*" and
  not process.name : ("conhost.exe",
                      "DeviceCensus.exe",
                      "CompatTelRunner.exe",
                      "DismHost.exe",
                      "rundll32.exe",
                      "powershell.exe")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Scheduled Task/Job
- ID: T1053
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Scheduled Task
- ID: T1053.005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1053/005/

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