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Detection rules › Sigma

Msxsl.EXE Execution

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the execution of the MSXSL utility. This can be used to execute Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) files. These files are commonly used to describe the processing and rendering of data within XML files. Adversaries can abuse this functionality to execute arbitrary files while potentially bypassing application whitelisting defenses.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
StealthT1220 XSL Script Processing

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation
Security-AuditingEvent ID 4688A new process has been created.

Rule body yaml

title: Msxsl.EXE Execution
id: 9e50a8b3-dd05-4eb8-9153-bdb6b79d50b0
status: test
description: |
    Detects the execution of the MSXSL utility. This can be used to execute Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) files. These files are commonly used to describe the processing and rendering of data within XML files.
    Adversaries can abuse this functionality to execute arbitrary files while potentially bypassing application whitelisting defenses.
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1220/T1220.md
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Msxsl/
author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community
date: 2019-10-21
modified: 2023-11-09
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1220
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\msxsl.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Msxsl is not installed by default and is deprecated, so unlikely on most systems.
# Note: If you levreage this utility please consider adding additional filters. As this is looking for "any" type of execition
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\msxsl.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
  • \msxsl.exe corpus 6 (sigma 6)