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sigmahighHunting

Suspicious Greedy Compression Using Rar.EXE

Detects RAR usage that creates an archive from a suspicious folder, either a system folder or one of the folders often used by attackers for staging purposes

MITRE ATT&CK

execution

Detection Query

selection_opt_1:
  - Image|endswith: \rar.exe
  - Description: Command line RAR
selection_opt_2:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - ".exe a "
    - " a -m"
selection_cli_flags:
  CommandLine|contains|all:
    - " -hp"
    - " -r "
selection_cli_folders:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - " ?:\\\\\\*."
    - " ?:\\\\\\\\\\*."
    - " ?:\\$Recycle.bin\\"
    - " ?:\\PerfLogs\\"
    - " ?:\\Temp"
    - " ?:\\Users\\Public\\"
    - " ?:\\Windows\\"
    - " %public%"
condition: 1 of selection_opt_* and all of selection_cli_*

Author

X__Junior (Nextron Systems), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-12-15

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

Tags

attack.executionattack.t1059
Raw Content
title: Suspicious Greedy Compression Using Rar.EXE
id: afe52666-401e-4a02-b4ff-5d128990b8cb
status: test
description: Detects RAR usage that creates an archive from a suspicious folder, either a system folder or one of the folders often used by attackers for staging purposes
references:
    - https://decoded.avast.io/martinchlumecky/png-steganography
author: X__Junior (Nextron Systems), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-12-15
modified: 2024-01-02
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: process_creation
detection:
    # Example : rar.exe a -m5 -r -y -ta20210204000000 -hp1qazxcde32ws -v2560k Asia1Dpt-PC-c.rar c:\\*.doc c:\\*.docx c:\\*.xls c:\\*.xlsx c:\\*.pdf c:\\*.ppt c:\\*.pptx c:\\*.jpg c:\\*.txt >nul
    selection_opt_1:
        - Image|endswith: '\rar.exe'
        - Description: 'Command line RAR'
    selection_opt_2:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '.exe a '
            - ' a -m'
    selection_cli_flags:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ' -hp' # password
            - ' -r ' # recursive
    selection_cli_folders:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' ?:\\\*.'
            - ' ?:\\\\\*.'
            - ' ?:\$Recycle.bin\'
            - ' ?:\PerfLogs\'
            - ' ?:\Temp'
            - ' ?:\Users\Public\'
            - ' ?:\Windows\'
            - ' %public%'
    condition: 1 of selection_opt_* and all of selection_cli_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high