COM Object Execution via Xwizard.EXE

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: category process_creation, product windows
Author: Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the execution of Xwizard tool with the "RunWizard" flag and a GUID like argument. This utility can be abused in order to run custom COM object created in the registry.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1218` System Binary Proxy Execution

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 1: Process creation
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688: A new process has been created.

Rule body

title: COM Object Execution via Xwizard.EXE
id: 53d4bb30-3f36-4e8a-b078-69d36c4a79ff
status: test
description: |
    Detects the execution of Xwizard tool with the "RunWizard" flag and a GUID like argument.
    This utility can be abused in order to run custom COM object created in the registry.
references:
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Xwizard/
    - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/execution-of-com-object-via-xwizard.html
    - https://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2017/07/31/the-wizard-of-x-oppa-plugx-style/
author: Ensar Şamil, @sblmsrsn, @oscd_initiative, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2020-10-07
modified: 2024-08-15
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        CommandLine: 'RunWizard'
        CommandLine|re: '\{[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}\}'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    CommandLine: 'RunWizard'
    CommandLine|re: '\{[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}\}'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`CommandLine`	eq	`RunWizard`	`field:"CommandLine" kind:eq value:"RunWizard"`
`CommandLine`	regex_match	`{[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}}`	`field:"CommandLine" kind:regex_match value:"{[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}}"`