from logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
| where event.code == "4104" and powershell.file.script_block_text like "*`*"
// replace the patterns we are looking for with the 🔥 emoji to enable counting them
// The emoji is used because it's unlikely to appear in scripts and has a consistent character length of 1
| eval Esql.script_block_tmp = replace(powershell.file.script_block_text, """[A-Za-z0-9_-]`(?![rntb]|\r|\n|\d)[A-Za-z0-9_-]""", "🔥")
// count how many patterns were detected by calculating the number of 🔥 characters inserted
| eval Esql.script_block_pattern_count = length(Esql.script_block_tmp) - length(replace(Esql.script_block_tmp, "🔥", ""))
// keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id
| keep
Esql.script_block_pattern_count,
Esql.script_block_tmp,
powershell.file.script_block_text,
powershell.file.script_block_id,
file.name,
file.directory,
file.path,
powershell.sequence,
powershell.total,
_id,
_index,
host.name,
agent.id,
user.id
// Filter for scripts that match the pattern at least 10 times
| where Esql.script_block_pattern_count >= 10
| where file.name not like "TSS_*.psm1"
// ESQL requires this condition, otherwise it only returns matches where file.name exists.
or file.name is null
// VSCode Shell integration
| where not powershell.file.script_block_text like "*$([char]0x1b)]633*"
| where not file.directory == "C:\\Program Files\\MVPSI\\JAMS\\Agent\\Temp"
// ESQL requires this condition, otherwise it only returns matches where file.directory exists.
or file.directory is null
Install detection rules in Elastic Security
Detect Potential PowerShell Obfuscation via Invalid Escape Sequences 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).