sigmahighHunting

Scheduled Task Executing Encoded Payload from Registry

Detects the creation of a schtask that potentially executes a base64 encoded payload stored in the Windows Registry using PowerShell.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1053.005 T1059.001

privilege-escalationexecutionpersistence

Detection Query

selection_img:
  - Image|endswith: \schtasks.exe
  - OriginalFileName: schtasks.exe
selection_cli_create:
  CommandLine|contains: /Create
selection_cli_encoding:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - FromBase64String
    - encodedcommand
selection_cli_get:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - Get-ItemProperty
    - " gp "
selection_cli_hive:
  CommandLine|contains:
    - "HKCU:"
    - "HKLM:"
    - "registry::"
    - HKEY_
condition: all of selection_*

Author

pH-T (Nextron Systems), @Kostastsale, TheDFIRReport, X__Junior (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-02-12

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

https://thedfirreport.com/2022/02/21/qbot-and-zerologon-lead-to-full-domain-compromise/

Tags

attack.privilege-escalationattack.executionattack.persistenceattack.t1053.005attack.t1059.001

Raw Content

title: Scheduled Task Executing Encoded Payload from Registry
id: c4eeeeae-89f4-43a7-8b48-8d1bdfa66c78
status: test
description: Detects the creation of a schtask that potentially executes a base64 encoded payload stored in the Windows Registry using PowerShell.
references:
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/02/21/qbot-and-zerologon-lead-to-full-domain-compromise/
author: pH-T (Nextron Systems), @Kostastsale, TheDFIRReport, X__Junior (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-02-12
modified: 2023-02-04
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.execution
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.t1053.005
    - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: process_creation
detection:
    selection_img:
        # schtasks.exe /Create /F /TN "{97F2F70B-10D1-4447-A2F3-9B070C86E261}" /TR "cmd /c start /min \"\" powershell.exe -Command IEX([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String((Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Pvoeooxf).yzbbvhhdypa))) " /SC MINUTE /MO 30
        - Image|endswith: '\schtasks.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'schtasks.exe'
    selection_cli_create:
        CommandLine|contains: '/Create'
    selection_cli_encoding:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'FromBase64String'
            - 'encodedcommand'
    selection_cli_get:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'Get-ItemProperty'
            - ' gp ' # Alias
    selection_cli_hive:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'HKCU:'
            - 'HKLM:'
            - 'registry::'
            - 'HKEY_'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high