Detection rules › Sigma

WMIC Loading Scripting Libraries

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
product windows, category image_load
Author
Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects threat actors proxy executing code and bypassing application controls by leveraging wmic and the /FORMAT argument switch to download and execute an XSL file (i.e js, vbs, etc). It could be an indicator of SquiblyTwo technique, which uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to execute malicious code.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
StealthT1220 XSL Script Processing

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 7Image loaded

Rule body yaml

title: WMIC Loading Scripting Libraries
id: 06ce37c2-61ab-4f05-9ff5-b1a96d18ae32
related:
    - id: 8d63dadf-b91b-4187-87b6-34a1114577ea
      type: similar
    - id: 05c36dd6-79d6-4a9a-97da-3db20298ab2d
      type: similar
status: test
description: |
    Detects threat actors proxy executing code and bypassing application controls by leveraging wmic and the `/FORMAT` argument switch to download and execute an XSL file (i.e js, vbs, etc).
    It could be an indicator of SquiblyTwo technique, which uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to execute malicious code.
references:
    - https://securitydatasets.com/notebooks/atomic/windows/defense_evasion/SDWIN-201017061100.html
    - https://twitter.com/dez_/status/986614411711442944
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Wmic/
author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research)
date: 2020-10-17
modified: 2022-10-13
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1220
logsource:
    category: image_load
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
        ImageLoaded|endswith:
            - '\jscript.dll'
            - '\vbscript.dll'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - The command wmic os get lastbootuptime loads vbscript.dll
    - The command wmic os get locale loads vbscript.dll
    - Since the ImageLoad event doesn't have enough information in this case. It's better to look at the recent process creation events that spawned the WMIC process and investigate the command line and parent/child processes to get more insights
    - The command `wmic ntevent` loads vbscript.dll
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
    ImageLoaded|endswith:
        - '\jscript.dll'
        - '\vbscript.dll'

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.

FieldKindValues
Imageends_with
  • \wmic.exe corpus 60 (sigma 60)
ImageLoadedends_with
  • \jscript.dll corpus 2 (sigma 2)
  • \vbscript.dll corpus 3 (sigma 3)