Remote File Download via Script Interpreter

Last updated 9 months ago on 2025-03-20

Created 5 years ago on 2020-11-29

About

Identifies built-in Windows script interpreters (cscript.exe or wscript.exe) being used to download an executable file from a remote destination.

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Command and ControlTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Command and Control (TA0011)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Ingress Tool Transfer (T1105)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

License

Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type

Event Correlation Rule

Integration Pack

Prebuilt Security Detection Rules

Index Patterns

winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.network-*logs-endpoint.events.file-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*

Related Integrations

endpoint(external, opens in a new tab or window)

windows(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗sequence by host.id, process.entity_id
  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : ("wscript.exe", "cscript.exe") and network.protocol != "dns" and
   network.direction : ("outgoing", "egress") and network.type == "ipv4" and destination.ip != "127.0.0.1"
  ]
  [file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "creation" and file.extension : ("exe", "dll")]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Remote File Download via Script Interpreter in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).