Potential Remote File Execution via MSIEXEC

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-01-15
Created 2 years ago on 2023-09-28

About

Identifies the execution of the built-in Windows Installer, msiexec.exe, to install a remote package. Adversaries may abuse msiexec.exe to launch local or network accessible MSI files.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Initial AccessTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Initial Access (TA0001)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

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

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-endpoint.events.network-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
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(opens in a new tab or window).