Detection rules › Sigma

HTML Help HH.EXE Suspicious Child Process

Status
test
Severity
high
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Maxim Pavlunin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects a suspicious child process of a Microsoft HTML Help (HH.exe)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

title: HTML Help HH.EXE Suspicious Child Process
id: 52cad028-0ff0-4854-8f67-d25dfcbc78b4
status: test
description: Detects a suspicious child process of a Microsoft HTML Help (HH.exe)
references:
    - https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/chm-badness-delivers-a-banking-trojan/
    - https://github.com/elastic/protections-artifacts/commit/746086721fd385d9f5c6647cada1788db4aea95f#diff-27939090904026cc396b0b629c8e4314acd6f5dac40a676edbc87f4567b47eb7
    - https://www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/analytics/pt-esc-threat-intelligence/higaisa-or-winnti-apt-41-backdoors-old-and-new/
    - https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/unintentional-leak-glimpse-attack-vectors-apt37
author: Maxim Pavlunin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2020-04-01
modified: 2023-04-12
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.initial-access
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1047
    - attack.t1059.001
    - attack.t1059.003
    - attack.t1059.005
    - attack.t1059.007
    - attack.t1218
    - attack.t1218.001
    - attack.t1218.010
    - attack.t1218.011
    - attack.t1566
    - attack.t1566.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ParentImage|endswith: '\hh.exe'
        Image|endswith:
            - '\CertReq.exe'
            - '\CertUtil.exe'
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\cscript.exe'
            - '\installutil.exe'
            - '\MSbuild.exe'
            - '\MSHTA.EXE'
            - '\msiexec.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
            - '\pwsh.exe'
            - '\regsvr32.exe'
            - '\rundll32.exe'
            - '\schtasks.exe'
            - '\wmic.exe'
            - '\wscript.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\hh.exe'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\CertReq.exe'
        - '\CertUtil.exe'
        - '\cmd.exe'
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\installutil.exe'
        - '\MSbuild.exe'
        - '\MSHTA.EXE'
        - '\msiexec.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\regsvr32.exe'
        - '\rundll32.exe'
        - '\schtasks.exe'
        - '\wmic.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'

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
  • \CertReq.exe corpus 7 (sigma 7)
  • \CertUtil.exe corpus 43 (sigma 43)
  • \MSHTA.EXE corpus 67 (sigma 67)
  • \MSbuild.exe corpus 10 (sigma 10)
  • \cmd.exe corpus 130 (sigma 130)
  • \cscript.exe corpus 73 (sigma 73)
  • \installutil.exe corpus 9 (sigma 9)
  • \msiexec.exe corpus 21 (sigma 21)
  • \powershell.exe corpus 182 (sigma 182)
  • \pwsh.exe corpus 168 (sigma 168)
  • \regsvr32.exe corpus 65 (sigma 65)
  • \rundll32.exe corpus 95 (sigma 95)
  • \schtasks.exe corpus 56 (sigma 56)
  • \wmic.exe corpus 60 (sigma 60)
  • \wscript.exe corpus 75 (sigma 75)
ParentImageends_with
  • \hh.exe