Potential Lateral Movement via MSI ODBC Driver Install over DCOM

Group by: InitiatingProcessUniqueId, ProcessUniqueId
Author: Cyb3rMonk
Source: github.com/Cyb3r-Monk/Threat-Hunting-and-Detection

Detects Potential Lateral Movement via MSI Custom Actions to install ODBC Driver over DCOM remotely.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Lateral Movement	No specific technique

References

Event coverage

Provider	Event/ActionType	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688	A new process has been created.
Defender-DeviceProcessEvents	any	Process activity (any)

Rule body kusto

// Description: Detect Potential Lateral Movement via MSI ODBC Driver Installer over DCOM
// Author: Cyb3rMonk(https://x.com/Cyb3rMonk)
// Website: https://academy.bluraven.io 
// Reference: https://specterops.io/blog/2025/09/29/dcom-again-installing-trouble-lateral-movement-bof/
//
DeviceProcessEvents
| where InitiatingProcessParentFileName == "services.exe"
| where InitiatingProcessFileName == "msiexec.exe"
| where FileName == "msiexec.exe"
| project DeviceId, DeviceName, ProcessUniqueId
| join kind=inner (
    DeviceNetworkEvents
    | where ActionType == "InboundConnectionAccepted"
    | where InitiatingProcessFileName == "msiexec.exe"
    | distinct DeviceId
    ) on DeviceId
    | join kind=inner 
        DeviceImageLoadEvents
        on DeviceId, DeviceName, $left.ProcessUniqueId == $right.InitiatingProcessUniqueId
| project-away DeviceId1, DeviceName1, DeviceId2
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, ActionType, DeviceId, DeviceName, FolderPath, InitiatingProcessFileName

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

DeviceProcessEvents

Stage 2: `where`

| where InitiatingProcessParentFileName == "services.exe"

Stage 3: `where`

| where InitiatingProcessFileName == "msiexec.exe"

Stage 4: `where`

| where FileName == "msiexec.exe"

Stage 5: `project`

| project DeviceId, DeviceName, ProcessUniqueId

Stage 6: `join`

| join kind=inner (
    DeviceNetworkEvents
    | where ActionType == "InboundConnectionAccepted"
    | where InitiatingProcessFileName == "msiexec.exe"
    | distinct DeviceId
    ) on DeviceId

Stage 7: `join`

| join kind=inner 
        DeviceImageLoadEvents
        on DeviceId, DeviceName, $left.ProcessUniqueId == $right.InitiatingProcessUniqueId

Stage 8: `project-away`

| project-away DeviceId1, DeviceName1, DeviceId2

Stage 9: `project-reorder`

| project-reorder TimeGenerated, ActionType, DeviceId, DeviceName, FolderPath, InitiatingProcessFileName

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
`ActionType`	eq	`InboundConnectionAccepted` transforms: `cased` corpus 3 (kusto 3)
`FileName`	eq	`msiexec.exe` transforms: `cased`
`InitiatingProcessFileName`	eq	`msiexec.exe` transforms: `cased` corpus 9 (elastic 4, splunk 3, kusto 2)
`InitiatingProcessParentFileName`	eq	`services.exe` transforms: `cased`

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
`DeviceId`	`project`
`DeviceName`	`project`
`ProcessUniqueId`	`project`

`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)

Potential Lateral Movement via MSI ODBC Driver Install over DCOM

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

References

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `project`

Stage 6: `join`

Stage 7: `join`

Stage 8: `project-away`

Stage 9: `project-reorder`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Potential Lateral Movement via MSI ODBC Driver Install over DCOM

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

References

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: project

Stage 6: join

Stage 7: join

Stage 8: project-away

Stage 9: project-reorder

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `project`

Stage 6: `join`

Stage 7: `join`

Stage 8: `project-away`

Stage 9: `project-reorder`