System Binary Proxy Execution: InstallUtil T1218.004

Events covered

4 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.

Authoring guide

Patterns shared across the 16 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 (17 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 (178 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 (102 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.

Elastic 10 rules

• Delayed Execution via Ping
• Execution from Unusual Directory - Command Line
• Execution of Persistent Suspicious Program
• InstallUtil Activity
• InstallUtil Process Making Network Connections
• Suspicious JetBrains TeamCity Child Process
• Suspicious MS Office Child Process
• Suspicious MS Outlook Child Process
• Suspicious PDF Reader Child Process
• Unusual Network Activity from a Windows System Binary

Splunk 6 rules

• Windows DotNet Binary in Non Standard Path
• Windows InstallUtil Credential Theft
• Windows InstallUtil in Non Standard Path
• Windows InstallUtil Remote Network Connection
• Windows InstallUtil Uninstall Option
• Windows InstallUtil URL in Command Line