Elastic Security Detection Rules

WMIC Remote Command

Last updated 4 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 2 years ago on 2023-08-24

About

Identifies the use of wmic.exe to run commands on remote hosts. While this can be used by administrators legitimately, attackers can abuse this built-in utility to achieve lateral movement.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Lateral MovementData Source: Elastic DefendRule Type: BBRData Source: SysmonData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Windows Security Event LogsLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Lateral Movement (TA0008)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Remote Services (T1021)(opens in a new tab or window)

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

↳ Windows Management Instrumentation (T1047)(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-endpoint.events.process-*logs-system.security*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

system(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  process.name : "WMIC.exe" and
  process.args : "*node:*" and
  process.args : ("call", "set", "get") and
  not process.args : ("*/node:localhost*", "*/node:\"127.0.0.1\"*", "/node:127.0.0.1")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect WMIC Remote Command 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).