sigmahighHunting

HTML Help HH.EXE Suspicious Child Process

Detects a suspicious child process of a Microsoft HTML Help (HH.exe)

MITRE ATT&CK

T1047 T1059.001 T1059.003 T1059.005 T1059.007 T1218 T1218.001 T1218.010 T1218.011 T1566 T1566.001

defense-evasionexecutioninitial-access

Detection Query

selection:
  ParentImage|endswith: \hh.exe
  Image|endswith:
    - \CertReq.exe
    - \CertUtil.exe
    - \cmd.exe
    - \cscript.exe
    - \installutil.exe
    - \MSbuild.exe
    - \MSHTA.EXE
    - \msiexec.exe
    - \powershell.exe
    - \pwsh.exe
    - \regsvr32.exe
    - \rundll32.exe
    - \schtasks.exe
    - \wmic.exe
    - \wscript.exe
condition: selection

Author

Maxim Pavlunin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2020-04-01

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.executionattack.initial-accessattack.t1047attack.t1059.001attack.t1059.003attack.t1059.005attack.t1059.007attack.t1218attack.t1218.001attack.t1218.010attack.t1218.011attack.t1566attack.t1566.001

Raw Content

title: HTML Help HH.EXE Suspicious Child Process
id: 52cad028-0ff0-4854-8f67-d25dfcbc78b4
status: test
description: Detects a suspicious child process of a Microsoft HTML Help (HH.exe)
references:
    - https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/chm-badness-delivers-a-banking-trojan/
    - https://github.com/elastic/protections-artifacts/commit/746086721fd385d9f5c6647cada1788db4aea95f#diff-27939090904026cc396b0b629c8e4314acd6f5dac40a676edbc87f4567b47eb7
    - https://www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/analytics/pt-esc-threat-intelligence/higaisa-or-winnti-apt-41-backdoors-old-and-new/
    - https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/unintentional-leak-glimpse-attack-vectors-apt37
author: Maxim Pavlunin, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2020-04-01
modified: 2023-04-12
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.execution
    - attack.initial-access
    - attack.t1047
    - attack.t1059.001
    - attack.t1059.003
    - attack.t1059.005
    - attack.t1059.007
    - attack.t1218
    - attack.t1218.001
    - attack.t1218.010
    - attack.t1218.011
    - attack.t1566
    - attack.t1566.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ParentImage|endswith: '\hh.exe'
        Image|endswith:
            - '\CertReq.exe'
            - '\CertUtil.exe'
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\cscript.exe'
            - '\installutil.exe'
            - '\MSbuild.exe'
            - '\MSHTA.EXE'
            - '\msiexec.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
            - '\pwsh.exe'
            - '\regsvr32.exe'
            - '\rundll32.exe'
            - '\schtasks.exe'
            - '\wmic.exe'
            - '\wscript.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high