Identify Mango Sandstorm powershell commands

Severity: high
Time window: 1d
Author: Microsoft Security Research
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

The query below identifies powershell commands used by the threat actor Mango Sandstorm. Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/08/25/mercury-leveraging-log4j-2-vulnerabilities-in-unpatched-systems-to-target-israeli-organizations/

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Lateral Movement	`T1570` Lateral Tool Transfer

Event coverage

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

Rule body kusto

id: ce74dc9a-cb3c-4081-8c2f-7d39f6b7bae1
name: Identify Mango Sandstorm powershell commands
description: |
  'The query below identifies powershell commands used by the threat actor Mango Sandstorm.
  Reference:  https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/08/25/mercury-leveraging-log4j-2-vulnerabilities-in-unpatched-systems-to-target-israeli-organizations/'
severity: High
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: SecurityEvents
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityEvent
  - connectorId: MicrosoftThreatProtection
    dataTypes:
      - DeviceProcessEvents
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - LateralMovement
relevantTechniques:
  - T1570
tags:
  - Mango Sandstorm
  - Schema: ASIMFileEvent
    SchemaVersion: 0.1.0
query: |
  (union isfuzzy=true
  (SecurityEvent
  | where EventID == 4688
  | where Process has_any ("powershell.exe","powershell_ise.exe","pwsh.exe") and CommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
  | where CommandLine  contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
  | extend DvcHostname = Computer, ProcessId = tostring(ProcessId), ActorUsername = Account
  ),
  (DeviceProcessEvents
  | where FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
  | where ProcessCommandLine contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
  | extend DvcHostname = DeviceName, ProcessId = tostring(InitiatingProcessId), ActorUsername = strcat(AccountDomain, @"\", AccountName)
  ),
  (imProcessCreate
  | where Process has_any ("powershell.exe","powershell_ise.exe","pwsh.exe") and CommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
  | where CommandLine  contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
  | extend ProcessId = tostring(TargetProcessId)
  )
  )
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(ActorUsername, "\\")[0]), AccountNTDomain = tostring(split(ActorUsername, "\\")[1])
  | extend HostName = tostring(split(DvcHostname, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(DvcHostname, '.'))
  | extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(DvcHostname, DomainIndex + 1), DvcHostname)
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: ActorUsername
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: AccountNTDomain
  - entityType: Host
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: DvcHostname
      - identifier: HostName
        columnName: HostName
      - identifier: NTDomain
        columnName: HostNameDomain
  - entityType: Process
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: ProcessId
        columnName: ProcessId
version: 1.0.5
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Threat Intelligence" ]

Stages and Predicates

union `isfuzzy=true` (3 sources)

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

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

SecurityEvent
| where EventID == 4688
| where Process has_any ("powershell.exe","powershell_ise.exe","pwsh.exe") and CommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
| where CommandLine  contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
| extend DvcHostname = Computer, ProcessId = tostring(ProcessId), ActorUsername = Account

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`

DeviceProcessEvents
| where FileName =~ "powershell.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
| where ProcessCommandLine contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
| extend DvcHostname = DeviceName, ProcessId = tostring(InitiatingProcessId), ActorUsername = strcat(AccountDomain, @"\", AccountName)

Leg 3: `imProcessCreate`

imProcessCreate
| where Process has_any ("powershell.exe","powershell_ise.exe","pwsh.exe") and CommandLine has_cs "-exec bypass -w 1 -enc"
| where CommandLine  contains_cs "UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA"
| extend ProcessId = tostring(TargetProcessId)

Applied to the combined result

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

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
`CommandLine`	contains	`UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA` transforms: `cased`
`CommandLine`	match	`-exec bypass -w 1 -enc` transforms: `cased`, `term` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1)
`EventID`	eq	`4688` transforms: `cased` corpus 313 (splunk 283, kusto 30)
`FileName`	eq	`powershell.exe` corpus 3 (kusto 3)
`Process`	match	`powershell.exe` corpus 2 (kusto 2) `powershell_ise.exe` `pwsh.exe`
`ProcessCommandLine`	contains	`UwB0AGEAcgB0AC0ASgBvAGIAIAAtAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AEIAbABvAGMAawAgAHsAKABzAGEAcABzACAAKAAiAHAA` transforms: `cased`
`ProcessCommandLine`	match	`-exec bypass -w 1 -enc` transforms: `cased`, `term` corpus 2 (sigma 1, kusto 1)

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
`ActorUsername`	`extend`
`DvcHostname`	`extend`
`ProcessId`	`extend`
`AccountNTDomain`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`DomainIndex`	`extend`
`HostName`	`extend`
`HostNameDomain`	`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)

Identify Mango Sandstorm powershell commands

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

union `isfuzzy=true` (3 sources)

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`

Leg 3: `imProcessCreate`

Applied to the combined result

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Identify Mango Sandstorm powershell commands

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

union isfuzzy=true (3 sources)

Leg 1: SecurityEvent

Leg 2: DeviceProcessEvents

Leg 3: imProcessCreate

Applied to the combined result

Indicators

Output fields

union `isfuzzy=true` (3 sources)

Leg 1: `SecurityEvent`

Leg 2: `DeviceProcessEvents`

Leg 3: `imProcessCreate`