PowerShell Suspicious Script with Clipboard Retrieval Capabilities

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 3 years ago on 2023-01-12

About

Detects PowerShell scripts that can get the contents of the clipboard, which attackers can abuse to retrieve sensitive information like credentials, messages, etc.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: CollectionData Source: PowerShell LogsLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Collection (TA0009)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

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 : (
    "Windows.Clipboard" or
    "Windows.Forms.Clipboard" or
    "Windows.Forms.TextBox"
   ) and
   powershell.file.script_block_text : (
    "]::GetText" or
    ".Paste()"
  )) or powershell.file.script_block_text : "Get-Clipboard" and
  not powershell.file.script_block_text : (
    "sentinelbreakpoints" and "Set-PSBreakpoint" and "PowerSploitIndicators"
  ) and
  not user.id : "S-1-5-18" and
  not (
    file.path : C\:\\Program?Files\\WindowsPowerShell\\*Modules*.ps1 and
    file.name : ("Convert-ExcelRangeToImage.ps1" or "Read-Clipboard.ps1")
  )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect PowerShell Suspicious Script with Clipboard Retrieval Capabilities 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).