sigmamediumHunting

PowerShell Download Pattern

Detects a Powershell process that contains download commands in its command line string

MITRE ATT&CK

execution

Detection Query

selection_img:
  - Image|endswith:
      - \powershell_ise.exe
      - \powershell.exe
      - \pwsh.exe
  - OriginalFileName:
      - PowerShell_ISE.EXE
      - PowerShell.EXE
      - pwsh.dll
selection_cli:
  CommandLine|contains|all:
    - new-object
    - net.webclient).
    - download
  CommandLine|contains:
    - string(
    - file(
condition: all of selection_*

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), oscd.community, Jonhnathan Ribeiro

Created

2019-01-16

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.executionattack.t1059.001

Raw Content

title: PowerShell Download Pattern
id: 3b6ab547-8ec2-4991-b9d2-2b06702a48d7
related:
    - id: e6c54d94-498c-4562-a37c-b469d8e9a275
      type: derived
    - id: 8f70ac5f-1f6f-4f8e-b454-db19561216c5
      type: obsolete
status: test
description: Detects a Powershell process that contains download commands in its command line string
references:
    - https://blog.redteam.pl/2020/06/black-kingdom-ransomware.html
    - https://lab52.io/blog/winter-vivern-all-summer/
    - https://hatching.io/blog/powershell-analysis/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), oscd.community, Jonhnathan Ribeiro
date: 2019-01-16
modified: 2025-10-20
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith:
              - '\powershell_ise.exe'
              - '\powershell.exe'
              - '\pwsh.exe'
        - OriginalFileName:
              - 'PowerShell_ISE.EXE'
              - 'PowerShell.EXE'
              - 'pwsh.dll'
    selection_cli:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'new-object'
            - 'net.webclient).'
            - 'download'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'string('
            - 'file('
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium