System Script Proxy Execution T1216
Tactic: Stealth
Adversaries may use trusted scripts, often signed with certificates, to proxy the execution of malicious files. Several Microsoft signed scripts that have been downloaded from Microsoft or are default on Windows installations can be used to proxy execution of other files. This behavior may be abused by adversaries to execute malicious files that could bypass application control and signature validation on systems.
Events covered
3 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Sysmon | Event ID 11 | FileCreate |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 19 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (14 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (83 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (29 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 15 rules
- Assembly Loading Via CL_LoadAssembly.ps1
- AWL Bypass with Winrm.vbs and Malicious WsmPty.xsl/WsmTxt.xsl
- AWL Bypass with Winrm.vbs and Malicious WsmPty.xsl/WsmTxt.xsl - File
- Execute Code with Pester.bat
- Execute Code with Pester.bat as Parent
- Launch-VsDevShell.PS1 Proxy Execution
- Potential Manage-bde.wsf Abuse To Proxy Execution
- Potential Process Execution Proxy Via CL_Invocation.ps1
- Potential Script Proxy Execution Via CL_Mutexverifiers.ps1
- Pubprn.vbs Proxy Execution
- Remote Code Execute via Winrm.vbs
- Suspicious CustomShellHost Execution
- SyncAppvPublishingServer VBS Execute Arbitrary PowerShell Code
- Uncommon Sigverif.EXE Child Process
- UtilityFunctions.ps1 Proxy Dll