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Process Execution from an Unusual Directory

Identifies process execution from suspicious default Windows directories. This is sometimes done by adversaries to hide malware in trusted paths.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

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
  • Execution

Version: 4

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Investigation guide

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

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started", "info") and
 /* add suspicious execution paths here */
process.executable : ("C:\\PerfLogs\\*.exe","C:\\Users\\Public\\*.exe","C:\\Users\\Default\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Tasks\\*.exe","C:\\Intel\\*.exe","C:\\AMD\\Temp\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\AppReadiness\\*.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\ServiceState\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\security\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\IdentityCRL\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Branding\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\csc\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\DigitalLocker\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\en-US\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\wlansvc\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Prefetch\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Fonts\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\diagnostics\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\TAPI\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\INF\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\System32\\Speech\\*.exe","C:\\windows\\tracing\\*.exe",
 "c:\\windows\\IME\\*.exe","c:\\Windows\\Performance\\*.exe","c:\\windows\\intel\\*.exe","c:\\windows\\ms\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\dot3svc\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\ServiceProfiles\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\panther\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\RemotePackages\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\OCR\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\appcompat\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\apppatch\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\addins\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\Setup\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Help\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\SKB\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Vss\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Web\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\servicing\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\CbsTemp\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\Logs\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\WaaS\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\twain_32\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\ShellExperiences\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\ShellComponents\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\PLA\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\Migration\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\debug\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Cursors\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Containers\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Boot\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\bcastdvr\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\assembly\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\TextInput\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\security\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\schemas\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\SchCache\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Resources\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\rescache\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\Provisioning\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\PrintDialog\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\PolicyDefinitions\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\media\\*.exe",
 "C:\\Windows\\Globalization\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\L2Schemas\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\LiveKernelReports\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\ModemLogs\\*.exe","C:\\Windows\\ImmersiveControlPanel\\*.exe") and
 not process.name : ("SpeechUXWiz.exe","SystemSettings.exe","TrustedInstaller.exe","PrintDialog.exe","MpSigStub.exe","LMS.exe","mpam-*.exe")
 /* uncomment once in winlogbeat */
 /* and not (process.code_signature.subject_name == "Microsoft Corporation" and process.code_signature.trusted == true) */