Network Connection via MsXsl

Last updated 13 days ago on 2025-08-26

Created 5 years ago on 2020-03-18

About

Identifies msxsl.exe making a network connection. This may indicate adversarial activity as msxsl.exe is often leveraged by adversaries to execute malicious scripts and evade detection.

Tags

Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SentinelOneData Source: SysmonLanguage: eql

Severity

low

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

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

↳ XSL Script Processing (T1220)(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.process-*logs-endpoint.events.network-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*

Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query

sequence by process.entity_id
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and event.type == "start"]
  [network where host.os.type == "windows" and process.name : "msxsl.exe" and
     not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8", "127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
       "192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32", "192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32",
       "192.0.2.0/24", "192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4",
       "100.64.0.0/10", "192.175.48.0/24","198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1",
       "FE80::/10", "FF00::/8")]

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Network Connection via MsXsl 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).