Name:Windows File Download Via PowerShell id:58c4e56c-b5b8-46a3-b5fb-6537dca3c6de version:1 date:2025-06-23 author:Michael Haag, Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk status:production type:Anomaly Description:The following analytic detects the use of PowerShell's download methods such as
"DownloadString" and "DownloadData" from the WebClient class or Invoke-WebRequest
and it's aliases "IWR" or "Curl".
It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on
process execution logs that include command-line details.
This activity can be significant such methods and functions are commonly used in malicious
PowerShell scripts to fetch and execute remote code.
If confirmed malicious, this behavior could allow an attacker to download and run
arbitrary code, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data exfiltration,
or further compromise of the affected system.
Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 1
-Windows Event Log Security 4688
-CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2
-Cisco Network Visibility Module Flow Data
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where `process_powershell` Processes.process IN ( "*iwr *", "*Invoke-WebRequest*", "*wget *", "curl", "*.DownloadData*", "*.DownloadFile*", "*.DownloadString*" ) by Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product | `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_file_download_via_powershell_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:False positives may be present and filtering will need to occur
by parent process or command line argument. It may be required to modify this query
to an EDR product for more granular coverage.
References: -https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.net.webclient?view=net-9.0#methods -https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2021/02/lazyscripter-from-empire-to-double-rat/ -https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1059.001/T1059.001.md -https://thedfirreport.com/2023/05/22/icedid-macro-ends-in-nokoyawa-ransomware/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$" dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$dest$") 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: - 'Winter Vivern' - 'Phemedrone Stealer' - 'Malicious PowerShell' - 'Data Destruction' - 'SysAid On-Prem Software CVE-2023-47246 Vulnerability' - 'PHP-CGI RCE Attack on Japanese Organizations' - 'Hermetic Wiper' - 'IcedID' - 'Ingress Tool Transfer' - 'HAFNIUM Group' - 'XWorm' - 'Cisco Network Visibility Module Analytics' asset_type:Endpoint mitre_attack_id: - 'T1059.001' - 'T1105' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' security_domain:endpoint
