Windows WinPEAS PowerShell Script Execution

name: Windows WinPEAS PowerShell Script Execution
id: 5cb208df-e1aa-478d-ab2f-8270ff9999b9
version: 2
creation_date: '2026-05-05'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Raven Tait, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: |-
    Detects the execution of the WinPEAS PowerShell script via default function names used within the script.
    winPEAS is a Windows tool that stands for Windows Privilege Escalation Awesome Script.
    Similar to its Linux counterpart, linpeas.sh, winPEAS is designed to automate the process of identifying potential privilege escalation paths on Windows systems.
data_source:
    - Powershell Script Block Logging 4104
search: |-
    `powershell`
    EventID="4104"
    ScriptBlockText IN (
        "*returnHotFixID*",
        "*Start-ACLCheck*",
        "*UnquotedServicePathCheck*",
        "*Get-ClipBoardText*"
    )
    | fillnull
    | stats count min(_time) as firstTime
                  max(_time) as lastTime
      by Computer EventID ScriptBlockText signature signature_id user_id vendor_product Guid
         Opcode Name Path ProcessID ScriptBlockId
    
    | rename Computer as dest
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `windows_winpeas_powershell_script_execution_filter`
how_to_implement: The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the `Processes` node of the `Endpoint` data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.
known_false_positives: Legitimate security assessments or administrative audits may run WinPEAS for privilege escalation checks. Exclude trusted security tools to reduce false alerts.
references:
    - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/master/winPEAS/winPEASps1/winPEAS.ps1
drilldown_searches:
    - earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
      name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"'
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: Potential WinPEAS PowerShell activity observed on $dest$ via script block $ScriptBlockId$.
    entity:
        field: dest
        type: system
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - Windows Post-Exploitation
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1590
    - T1007
    - T1082
    - T1033
    - T1592.002
    - T1592.004
    - T1016
    - T1615
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1590/snapattack/snapattack.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit