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Local Scheduled Task Creation

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

Indicates the creation of a scheduled task. Adversaries can use this to establish persistence, move laterally, and/or escalate privileges.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Persistence

Version: 12

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

sequence with maxspan=1m
  [process where event.type != "end" and
    ((process.name : ("cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "wmic.exe", "mshta.exe",
                      "powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe", "powershell_ise.exe", "WmiPrvSe.exe", "wsmprovhost.exe", "winrshost.exe") or
    process.pe.original_file_name : ("cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe", "wmic.exe", "mshta.exe",
                                     "powershell.exe", "pwsh.dll", "powershell_ise.exe", "WmiPrvSe.exe", "wsmprovhost.exe",
                                     "winrshost.exe")) or
    process.code_signature.trusted == false)] by process.entity_id
  [process where event.type == "start" and
    (process.name : "schtasks.exe" or process.pe.original_file_name == "schtasks.exe") and
    process.args : ("/create", "-create") and process.args : ("/RU", "/SC", "/TN", "/TR", "/F", "/XML") and
    /* exclude SYSTEM Integrity Level - look for task creations by non-SYSTEM user */
    not (?process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name : "System" or ?winlog.event_data.IntegrityLevel : "System")
  ] by process.parent.entity_id

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM