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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Persistence via Microsoft Outlook VBA

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Persistence via Microsoft Outlook VBA

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Detects attempts to establish persistence on an endpoint by installing a rogue Microsoft Outlook VBA Template.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.*
winlogbeat-*
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

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Persistence

Version: 6 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

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A legitimate VBA for Outlook is usually configured interactively via OUTLOOK.EXE.

Investigation guide

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Rule query

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file where event.type != "deletion" and file.path :
"C:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Outlook\\VbaProject.OTM"

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Office Application Startup
- ID: T1137
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1137/

Rule version history

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Version 6 (8.4.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 4 (8.2.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.12.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

file where event.type != "deletion" and wildcard(file.path,
"C:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Outlook\\VbaProject.OTM")

Version 2 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

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