Dev-0270 Malicious Powershell usage

Status: available
Severity: high
Time window: 6h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

DEV-0270 heavily uses powershell to achieve their objective at various stages of their attack. To locate powershell related activity tied to the actor, Microsoft Sentinel customers can run the following query.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1562` Impair Defenses
Exfiltration	`T1048` Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688	A new process has been created.

Rule body kusto

id: 422ca2bf-598b-4872-82bb-5f7e8fa731e7
name: Dev-0270 Malicious Powershell usage
description: | 
  'DEV-0270 heavily uses powershell to achieve their objective at various stages of their attack. To locate powershell related activity tied to the actor, Microsoft Sentinel customers can run the following query.'
severity: High 
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
    dataTypes:
      - DeviceProcessEvents
queryFrequency: 6h 
queryPeriod: 6h 
triggerOperator: gt 
triggerThreshold: 0 
status: Available
tactics: 
  - Exfiltration
  - DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
  -  T1048
  -  T1562
tags:
  - Dev-0270
query: |
  (union isfuzzy=true
  (SecurityEvent
  | where EventID==4688
  | extend FileName=tostring(split(NewProcessName, @'\')[(-1)]),  ProcessCommandLine = CommandLine, InitiatingProcessFileName=ParentProcessName
  | where (FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has_all("try", "Add-MpPreference", "-ExclusionPath", "ProgramData", "catch")) or (FileName =~ 'powershell.exe' and ProcessCommandLine has_all('Add-PSSnapin', 'Get-Recipient', '-ExpandProperty', 'EmailAddresses', 'SmtpAddress', '-hidetableheaders') )
  | project TimeGenerated, Computer, Account, AccountDomain, ProcessName, ProcessNameFullPath = NewProcessName, InitiatingProcessFileName, EventID, Activity, CommandLine, EventSourceName, Type
  ),
  (DeviceProcessEvents 
  | where (FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ((ProcessCommandLine has_all("try", "Add-MpPreference", "-ExclusionPath", "ProgramData", "catch"))  or (ProcessCommandLine has_all('Add-PSSnapin', 'Get-Recipient', '-ExpandProperty', 'EmailAddresses', 'SmtpAddress', '-hidetableheaders'))))
  or ( InitiatingProcessFileName =~ 'powershell.exe' and (((InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('$file=', 'dllhost.exe', 'Invoke-WebRequest', '-OutFile')) or ((InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('$admins=', 'System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier', 'Translate', '-split', 'localgroup', '/add', '$rdp='))))))
  | extend Account = strcat(InitiatingProcessAccountDomain, @'\', InitiatingProcessAccountName),  Computer = DeviceName
  )
  )
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(Account, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(Account, @'\')[0])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Account
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: AccountNTDomain
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Computer
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: DnsDomain
        columnName: HostNameDomain
version: 1.0.4
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

union `isfuzzy=true` (2 sources)

Each leg below queries one source; the rule matches if any leg does. Sources: SecurityEvent, DeviceProcessEvents

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

SecurityEvent
| where EventID==4688
| extend FileName=tostring(split(NewProcessName, @'\')[(-1)]),  ProcessCommandLine = CommandLine, InitiatingProcessFileName=ParentProcessName
| where (FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has_all("try", "Add-MpPreference", "-ExclusionPath", "ProgramData", "catch")) or (FileName =~ 'powershell.exe' and ProcessCommandLine has_all('Add-PSSnapin', 'Get-Recipient', '-ExpandProperty', 'EmailAddresses', 'SmtpAddress', '-hidetableheaders') )
| project TimeGenerated, Computer, Account, AccountDomain, ProcessName, ProcessNameFullPath = NewProcessName, InitiatingProcessFileName, EventID, Activity, CommandLine, EventSourceName, Type

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`

DeviceProcessEvents 
| where (FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ((ProcessCommandLine has_all("try", "Add-MpPreference", "-ExclusionPath", "ProgramData", "catch"))  or (ProcessCommandLine has_all('Add-PSSnapin', 'Get-Recipient', '-ExpandProperty', 'EmailAddresses', 'SmtpAddress', '-hidetableheaders'))))
or ( InitiatingProcessFileName =~ 'powershell.exe' and (((InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('$file=', 'dllhost.exe', 'Invoke-WebRequest', '-OutFile')) or ((InitiatingProcessCommandLine has_all('$admins=', 'System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier', 'Translate', '-split', 'localgroup', '/add', '$rdp='))))))
| extend Account = strcat(InitiatingProcessAccountDomain, @'\', InitiatingProcessAccountName),  Computer = DeviceName

Applied to the combined result

| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(Account, @'\')[1]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(Account, @'\')[0])

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`EventID`	eq	`4688` transforms: `cased` corpus 313 (splunk 283, kusto 30)
`FileName`	eq	`powershell.exe` corpus 3 (kusto 3)
`InitiatingProcessCommandLine`	match	`$admins=` `$file=` `$rdp=` `-OutFile` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `-split` `/add` corpus 9 (sigma 5, splunk 2, kusto 2) `Invoke-WebRequest` corpus 13 (sigma 10, elastic 1, chronicle 1, kusto 1) `System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier` `Translate` `dllhost.exe` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `localgroup` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1)
`InitiatingProcessFileName`	eq	`powershell.exe` corpus 15 (elastic 12, kusto 2, splunk 1)
`ProcessCommandLine`	match	`-ExclusionPath` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `-ExpandProperty` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `-hidetableheaders` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `Add-MpPreference` corpus 3 (sigma 2, kusto 1) `Add-PSSnapin` corpus 3 (sigma 2, kusto 1) `EmailAddresses` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `Get-Recipient` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `ProgramData` `SmtpAddress` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1) `catch` `try`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`Account`	`extend`
`AccountDomain`	`project`
`Activity`	`project`
`CommandLine`	`project`
`Computer`	`extend`
`EventID`	`project`
`EventSourceName`	`project`
`InitiatingProcessFileName`	`project`
`ProcessName`	`project`
`ProcessNameFullPath`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`Type`	`project`
`DomainIndex`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`
`HostNameDomain`	`extend`
`AccountNTDomain`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Dev-0270 Malicious Powershell usage

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

union `isfuzzy=true` (2 sources)

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`

Applied to the combined result

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Dev-0270 Malicious Powershell usage

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

union isfuzzy=true (2 sources)

Leg 1: SecurityEvent

Leg 2: DeviceProcessEvents

Applied to the combined result

Indicators

Output fields

union `isfuzzy=true` (2 sources)

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`