Elastic Security Detection Rules

Signed Proxy Execution via MS Work Folders

Last updated 10 days ago on 2025-02-21
Created 3 years ago on 2022-03-02

About

Identifies the use of Windows Work Folders to execute a potentially masqueraded control.exe file in the current working directory. Misuse of Windows Work Folders could indicate malicious activity.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SysmonData Source: SentinelOneData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ System Binary Proxy Execution (T1218)(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
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

system(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)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  process.name : "control.exe" and process.parent.name : "WorkFolders.exe" and
  not process.executable : (
    "?:\\Windows\\System32\\control.exe",
    "?:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\control.exe",
    "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\System32\\control.exe",
    "\\Device\\HarddiskVolume?\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\control.exe"
  )

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Signed Proxy Execution via MS Work Folders 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).