Detection rules › Elastic
Process Stared via Remote Thread
Identifies the creation of a process with parent call stack not pointing to normal process creation APIs. This may indicate process creation as a result of code injection.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Stealth |
Rule body
[rule]
description = """
Identifies the creation of a process with parent call stack not pointing to normal process creation APIs. This may
indicate process creation as a result of code injection.
"""
id = "697151c0-a1bd-498e-9056-6c726ce592b7"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Process Stared via Remote Thread"
os_list = ["windows"]
reference = [
"https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/upping-the-ante-detecting-in-memory-threats-with-kernel-call-stacks",
]
version = "1.0.19"
query = '''
process where event.action == "start" and
_arraysearch(process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack, $entry,
$entry.symbol_info: ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\ntdll.dll!ZwCreateThreadEx*",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\ntdll.dll!NtCreateThreadEx*")) and
not _arraysearch(process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack, $entry, $entry.symbol_info: ("*CreateProcess*", "*CreateUserProcess*"))
'''
min_endpoint_version = "8.7.0"
optional_actions = []
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.parent.entity_id"
state = 0
[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1055"
name = "Process Injection"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/"
[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"
[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "8.7.0"
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: process
process where event.action == "start" and
_arraysearch(process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack, $entry,
$entry.symbol_info: ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\ntdll.dll!ZwCreateThreadEx*",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\ntdll.dll!NtCreateThreadEx*")) and
not _arraysearch(process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack, $entry, $entry.symbol_info: ("*CreateProcess*", "*CreateUserProcess*"))
Exclusions
The rule actively suppresses these predicates.
| Field | Kind | Excluded values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack | array_any | excludes:process.parent.thread.Ext.call_stack |
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
event.action | eq |
| field:"EventType" kind:eq value:"start" |