Initial Access (TA0001)(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)
text code block:sequence with maxspan=1m [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action == "start" and process.name : "msiexec.exe" and process.args : "/V"] by process.entity_id [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msiexec.exe" and event.action == "connection_attempted"] by process.entity_id [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action == "start" and process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" and user.id : ("S-1-5-21-*", "S-1-5-12-1-*") and not process.executable : ("?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msiexec.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\srtasks.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\srtasks.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\taskkill.exe", "?:\\Windows\\Installer\\MSI*.tmp", "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\ie4uinit.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\ie4uinit.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\sc.exe", "?:\\Windows\\system32\\Wbem\\mofcomp.exe", "?:\\Windows\\twain_32\\fjscan32\\SOP\\crtdmprc.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\taskkill.exe", "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\schtasks.exe", "?:\\Windows\\system32\\schtasks.exe", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\sdbinst.exe") and not (process.code_signature.subject_name == "Citrix Systems, Inc." and process.code_signature.trusted == true) and not (process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "powershell.exe", "rundll32.exe", "wscript.exe") and process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name == "high" and process.args : ("?:\\Program Files\\*", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*")) and not (process.executable : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe", "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe") and process.code_signature.trusted == true) and not (process.name : "rundll32.exe" and process.args : "printui.dll,PrintUIEntry") ] by process.parent.entity_id
Install detection rules in Elastic Security
Detect Potential Remote File Execution via MSIEXEC 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).