Unusual Executable File Creation by a System Critical Process
Elastic Stack Serverless Security
Identifies an unexpected executable file being created or modified by a Windows system critical process, which may indicate activity related to remote code execution or other forms of exploitation.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
- logs-windows.*
Severity: high
Risk score: 73
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
- Defense Evasion
Version: 5
Rule authors:
- Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
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.
file where event.type != "deletion" and
file.extension : ("exe", "dll") and
process.name : ("smss.exe",
"autochk.exe",
"csrss.exe",
"wininit.exe",
"services.exe",
"lsass.exe",
"winlogon.exe",
"userinit.exe",
"LogonUI.exe")
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Exploitation for Defense Evasion
- ID: T1211
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1211/