Elastic Security Detection Rules

Persistence via PowerShell profile

Last updated 3 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 3 years ago on 2022-10-13

About

Identifies the creation or modification of a PowerShell profile. PowerShell profile is a script that is executed when PowerShell starts to customize the user environment, which can be abused by attackers to persist in a environment where PowerShell is common.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceTactic: Privilege EscalationData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Event Triggered Execution (T1546)(opens in a new tab or window)

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Event Triggered Execution (T1546)(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
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.file-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*endgame-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type != "deletion" and
  file.path : ("?:\\Users\\*\\Documents\\WindowsPowerShell\\*",
               "?:\\Users\\*\\Documents\\PowerShell\\*",
               "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\*") and
  file.name : ("profile.ps1", "Microsoft.Powershell_profile.ps1")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Persistence via PowerShell profile 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).