Detection rules › Elastic

Potential PowerShell Empire Execution

Source
github.com/elastic/protections-artifacts

Identifies the execution of PowerShell with suspicious argument values. This behavior is often observed during malware installation leveraging PowerShell.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body

[rule]
description = """
Identifies the execution of PowerShell with suspicious argument values. This behavior is often observed during malware
installation leveraging PowerShell.
"""
id = "97c40962-ab00-4741-b8f9-8c03b5f0eaa7"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Potential PowerShell Empire Execution"
os_list = ["windows"]
version = "1.0.2"

query = '''
process where event.action == "start" and process.name : "powershell.exe" and
 process.command_line : ("* -noP -sta -w 1 -enc  SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*",
                         "* hidden -e SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*",
                         "* -noP -sta -w 1 -enc  IAAgA*",
                         "*LwBkAG8AdwBuAGwAbwBhAGQALwBwAG8AdwBlAHIAcwBoAGUAbABsAC8AJw*",
                         "*AvAGQAbwB3AG4AbABvAGEAZAAvAGMAcwBoAGEAcgBwAC8AIgApADsA*",
                         "*AAKAAkAEkAVgArACQASwApACkAfABJAEUAWAA=*",
                         "*IAAgACYAKAAiAHsAMgB9AHsAMAB9AHsAMQB9ACIA*")
'''

min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"
optional_actions = []
[[actions]]
action = "kill_process"
field = "process.entity_id"
state = 0
tree = true

[[threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[threat.technique]]
id = "T1059"
name = "Command and Scripting Interpreter"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/"
[[threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1059.001"
name = "PowerShell"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/001/"



[threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"

[internal]
min_endpoint_version = "7.15.0"

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: process

process where event.action == "start" and process.name : "powershell.exe" and
 process.command_line : ("* -noP -sta -w 1 -enc  SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*",
                         "* hidden -e SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*",
                         "* -noP -sta -w 1 -enc  IAAgA*",
                         "*LwBkAG8AdwBuAGwAbwBhAGQALwBwAG8AdwBlAHIAcwBoAGUAbABsAC8AJw*",
                         "*AvAGQAbwB3AG4AbABvAGEAZAAvAGMAcwBoAGEAcgBwAC8AIgApADsA*",
                         "*AAKAAkAEkAVgArACQASwApACkAfABJAEUAWAA=*",
                         "*IAAgACYAKAAiAHsAMgB9AHsAMAB9AHsAMQB9ACIA*")

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

FieldKindValuesSearch
event.actioneq
  • start corpus 391 (elastic 391)
field:"EventType" kind:eq value:"start"
process.command_linewildcard
  • * -noP -sta -w 1 -enc IAAgA*
  • * -noP -sta -w 1 -enc SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*
  • * hidden -e SQBmACgAJABQAFMAV*
  • *AAKAAkAEkAVgArACQASwApACkAfABJAEUAWAA=*
  • *AvAGQAbwB3AG4AbABvAGEAZAAvAGMAcwBoAGEAcgBwAC8AIgApADsA*
  • *IAAgACYAKAAiAHsAMgB9AHsAMAB9AHsAMQB9ACIA*
  • *LwBkAG8AdwBuAGwAbwBhAGQALwBwAG8AdwBlAHIAcwBoAGUAbABsAC8AJw*
field:"CommandLine" kind:wildcard
process.namewildcard
  • powershell.exe corpus 184 (elastic 140, splunk 44)
field:"process_name" kind:wildcard value:"powershell.exe"