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sigmahighHunting

PowerShell Base64 Encoded Invoke Keyword

Detects UTF-8 and UTF-16 Base64 encoded powershell 'Invoke-' calls

MITRE ATT&CK

T1059.001T1027
executiondefense-evasion

Detection Query

selection_img:
  - Image|endswith:
      - \powershell.exe
      - \pwsh.exe
  - OriginalFileName:
      - PowerShell.EXE
      - pwsh.dll
selection_cli_enc:
  CommandLine|contains: " -e"
selection_cli_invoke:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - SQBuAHYAbwBrAGUALQ
    - kAbgB2AG8AawBlAC0A
    - JAG4AdgBvAGsAZQAtA
    - SW52b2tlL
    - ludm9rZS
    - JbnZva2Ut
condition: all of selection_*

Author

pH-T (Nextron Systems), Harjot Singh, @cyb3rjy0t

Created

2022-05-20

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.executionattack.t1059.001attack.defense-evasionattack.t1027
Raw Content
title: PowerShell Base64 Encoded Invoke Keyword
id: 6385697e-9f1b-40bd-8817-f4a91f40508e
related:
    - id: fd6e2919-3936-40c9-99db-0aa922c356f7
      type: obsolete
status: test
description: Detects UTF-8 and UTF-16 Base64 encoded powershell 'Invoke-' calls
references:
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/05/09/seo-poisoning-a-gootloader-story/
author: pH-T (Nextron Systems), Harjot Singh, @cyb3rjy0t
date: 2022-05-20
modified: 2023-04-06
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059.001
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.t1027
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith:
              - '\powershell.exe'
              - '\pwsh.exe'
        - OriginalFileName:
              - 'PowerShell.EXE'
              - 'pwsh.dll'
    selection_cli_enc:
        CommandLine|contains: ' -e'
    selection_cli_invoke:
        CommandLine|contains:
            # Invoke-
            # UTF-16LE
            - 'SQBuAHYAbwBrAGUALQ'
            - 'kAbgB2AG8AawBlAC0A'
            - 'JAG4AdgBvAGsAZQAtA'
            # UTF-8
            - 'SW52b2tlL'
            - 'ludm9rZS'
            - 'JbnZva2Ut'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high