Name:Office Product Spawning MSHTA id:6078fa20-a6d2-11eb-b662-acde48001122 version:7 date:2024-11-28 author:Michael Haag, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic identifies instances where a Microsoft Office product spawns `mshta.exe`. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process creation events where the parent process is an Office application. This activity is significant because it is a common technique used by malware families like TA551 and IcedID to execute malicious scripts or payloads. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, potentially leading to data exfiltration, system compromise, or further malware deployment. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 1
-Windows Event Log Security 4688
-CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where Processes.parent_process_name IN ("winword.exe","excel.exe","powerpnt.exe","mspub.exe","visio.exe", "onenote.exe","onenotem.exe", "msaccess.exe","Graph.exe","winproj.exe") `process_mshta` by Processes.dest Processes.user Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.parent_process_id | `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `office_product_spawning_mshta_filter`
how_to_implement:The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the `Processes` node of the `Endpoint` data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process. known_false_positives:No false positives known. Filter as needed. References: -https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/threats/TA551/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Azorult' - 'Spearphishing Attachments' - 'IcedID' - 'Compromised Windows Host' - 'NjRAT' - 'CVE-2023-36884 Office and Windows HTML RCE Vulnerability' asset_type:Endpoint confidence:90 impact:70 message:office parent process $parent_process_name$ will execute a suspicious child process $process_name$ with process id $process_id$ in host $dest$ mitre_attack_id: - 'T1566' - 'T1566.001' observable: name:'dest' type:'Hostname' - role: - 'Victim' name:'process_name' type:'Process' - role: - 'Attacker' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' required_fields: - '_time' - 'Processes.dest' - 'Processes.user' - 'Processes.parent_process_name' - 'Processes.parent_process' - 'Processes.original_file_name' - 'Processes.process_name' - 'Processes.process' - 'Processes.process_id' - 'Processes.parent_process_path' - 'Processes.process_path' - 'Processes.parent_process_id' risk_score:63 security_domain:endpoint
