Detection rules › Splunk
PowerShell XML Retrieval (Sysmon)
This use case detects PowerShell commands attempting to retrieve data from XML files via http or https
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
Rule body yaml
id: '15890.23905'
title: PowerShell XML Retrieval
description: 'This use case detects PowerShell commands attempting to retrieve data
from XML files via http or https. Atomics T1059.001 Test #7 Atomics T1059.001 Test
#8'
logic_format: Splunk
logic: '`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_sysmon` (TERM(EventCode=1) OR "<EventID>1<")
("MsXml2.ServerXmlHttp" OR TERM(ComObject) OR "xml") | table _time, host, user process,
process_*, signature_id | bin span=1s | stats values(*) as * by _time, host | where
match(process, "(?i)http(s?):\/\/") and match (process, "(?i)xml") and match(process,
"(?i)powershell|cmd\.exe") '
techniques:
- execution:command and scripting interpreter:powershell
- execution:command and scripting interpreter
technique_id:
- T1059.001
- T1059
data_category:
- Windows Sysmon
references:
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1059.001/T1059.001.md#atomic-test-7---powershell-msxml-com-object---with-prompt
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`get_endpoint_data` `get_endpoint_data_sysmon` (TERM(EventCode=1) OR "<EventID>1<") ("MsXml2.ServerXmlHttp" OR TERM(ComObject) OR "xml")
Stage 2: table
| table _time, host, user process, process_*, signature_id
Stage 3: bucket
| bin span=1s
Stage 4: stats
| stats values(*) as * by _time, host
Stage 5: where
| where match(process, "(?i)http(s?):\/\/") and match (process, "(?i)xml") and match(process, "(?i)powershell|cmd\.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.
Search terms
Bare-string tokens in the SPL search body. Splunk matches each token against _raw (the untyped raw event text) anywhere it appears, not against a specific field. These don't surface in the Indicators table because they aren't predicates on a known field.
| Stage | Term |
|---|---|
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | "<EventID>1<" |
| 1 | "MsXml2.ServerXmlHttp" |
| 1 | TERM |
| 1 | ComObject |
| 1 | "xml" |