Potential Process Injection via PowerShell

Last updated 2 months ago on 2025-07-02
Created 4 years ago on 2021-10-14

About

Detects the use of Windows API functions that are commonly abused by malware and security tools to load malicious code or inject it into remote processes.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: ExecutionData Source: PowerShell LogsLanguage: kuery
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

False Positive Examples
Legitimate PowerShell scripts that make use of these functions.
License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-windows.powershell*
Related Integrations

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.category:process and host.os.type:windows and
  powershell.file.script_block_text : (
   (VirtualAlloc or VirtualAllocEx or VirtualProtect or LdrLoadDll or LoadLibrary or LoadLibraryA or
      LoadLibraryEx or GetProcAddress or OpenProcess or OpenProcessToken or AdjustTokenPrivileges) and
   (WriteProcessMemory or CreateRemoteThread or NtCreateThreadEx or CreateThread or QueueUserAPC or
      SuspendThread or ResumeThread or GetDelegateForFunctionPointer)
  ) and not 
  file.directory: (
    "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection\SenseCM" or
    "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection\Downloads"
  )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Potential Process Injection via PowerShell 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(opens in a new tab or window).