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Suspicious Execution via MSIEXEC

Elastic Stack Serverless Security

Identifies suspicious execution of the built-in Windows Installer, msiexec.exe, to install a package from usual paths or parent process. Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to launch malicious local MSI files.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 60m

Searches indices from: now-119m (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:

Tags:

  • Domain: Endpoint
  • OS: Windows
  • Use Case: Threat Detection
  • Tactic: Defense Evasion
  • Rule Type: BBR
  • Data Source: Elastic Defend
  • Data Source: Elastic Endgame

Version: 103

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action == "start" and
  process.name : "msiexec.exe" and user.id : ("S-1-5-21*", "S-1-12-*") and process.parent.executable != null and
  (
    (process.args : "/i" and process.args : ("/q", "/quiet") and process.args_count == 4 and
     process.args : ("?:\\Users\\*", "?:\\ProgramData\\*") and
     not process.parent.executable : ("?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
                                      "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
                                      "?:\\Windows\\explorer.exe",
                                      "?:\\Users\\*\\Desktop\\*",
                                      "?:\\Users\\*\\Downloads\\*",
                                      "?:\\programdata\\*")) or

    (process.args_count == 1 and not process.parent.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\explorer.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\explorer.exe")) or

    (process.args : "/i" and process.args : ("/q", "/quiet") and process.args_count == 4 and
     (process.parent.args : "Schedule" or process.parent.name : "wmiprvse.exe" or
     process.parent.executable : "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\*" or
     (process.parent.name : ("powershell.exe", "cmd.exe") and length(process.parent.command_line) >= 200))) or

    (process.args : "/i" and process.args : ("/q", "/quiet") and process.args_count == 4 and
     ?process.working_directory : "?:\\" and process.parent.name : ("cmd.exe", "powershell.exe"))
  ) and

  /* noisy pattern */
  not (process.parent.executable : "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\*" and ?process.parent.args_count >= 2 and
       process.args : "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\*\\*.msi") and

  not process.args : ("?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*", "?:\\Program Files\\*")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM