defense_evasion_installutil_beacon.toml

[metadata]
creation_date = "2020/09/02"
maturity = "production"
updated_date = "2021/03/03"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
description = """
Identifies InstallUtil.exe making outbound network connections. This may indicate adversarial activity as InstallUtil is
often leveraged by adversaries to execute code and evade detection.
"""
from = "now-9m"
index = ["logs-endpoint.events.*", "winlogbeat-*", "logs-windows.*"]
language = "eql"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "InstallUtil Process Making Network Connections"
risk_score = 21
rule_id = "a13167f1-eec2-4015-9631-1fee60406dcf"
severity = "medium"
tags = ["Elastic", "Host", "Windows", "Threat Detection", "Defense Evasion"]
type = "eql"

query = '''
/* the benefit of doing this as an eql sequence vs kql is this will limit to alerting only on the first network connection */

sequence by process.entity_id
  [process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and process.name : "installutil.exe"]
  [network where process.name : "installutil.exe" and network.direction == "outgoing"]
'''


[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1218"
name = "Signed Binary Proxy Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/"
[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1218.004"
name = "InstallUtil"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/004/"



[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"