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[New Rule] Potential PowerShell Obfuscation via Reverse Keywords #4609

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104 changes: 104 additions & 0 deletions rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_reverse_keyword.toml
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
[metadata]
creation_date = "2025/04/14"
integration = ["windows"]
maturity = "production"
min_stack_comments = "The ES|QL MATCH operator was introduced in 8.17"
min_stack_version = "8.17.0"
updated_date = "2025/04/14"

[rule]
author = ["Elastic"]
description = """
Identifies PowerShell scripts that use reversed strings as a form of obfuscation. These methods are designed to evade
static analysis and bypass security protections such as the Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI).
"""
from = "now-9m"
language = "esql"
license = "Elastic License v2"
name = "Potential PowerShell Obfuscation via Reverse Keywords"
risk_score = 21
rule_id = "f38633f4-3b31-4c80-b13d-e77c70ce8254"
setup = """## Setup

The 'PowerShell Script Block Logging' logging policy must be enabled.
Steps to implement the logging policy with Advanced Audit Configuration:

```
Computer Configuration >
Administrative Templates >
Windows PowerShell >
Turn on PowerShell Script Block Logging (Enable)
```

Steps to implement the logging policy via registry:

```
reg add "hklm\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\PowerShell\\ScriptBlockLogging" /v EnableScriptBlockLogging /t REG_DWORD /d 1
```
"""
severity = "low"
tags = [
"Domain: Endpoint",
"OS: Windows",
"Use Case: Threat Detection",
"Tactic: Defense Evasion",
"Data Source: PowerShell Logs",
]
timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
type = "esql"

query = '''
FROM logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
| WHERE event.code == "4104"

// Filter for scripts that contains these keywords using MATCH, boosts the query performance, match will ignore the | and look for the individual words
| WHERE powershell.file.script_block_text : "rahc|metsys|stekcos|tcejboimw|ecalper|ecnerferpe|noitcennoc|nioj|eman|vne|gnirts|tcejbo-wen|_23niw|noisserpxe|ekovni|daolnwod"
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I'm curious if we might be able to work with SecML on an ML job that identifies obfuscation, regardless of pattern with the right algorithm or model. Or maybe it already exists?


// Replace string format expressions with 🔥 to enable counting the occurrence of the patterns we are looking for
// The emoji is used because it's unlikely to appear in scripts and has a consistent character length of 1
| EVAL replaced_with_fire = REPLACE(powershell.file.script_block_text, """(?i)(rahc|metsys|stekcos|tcejboimw|ecalper|ecnerferpe|noitcennoc|nioj|eman\.|:vne|gnirts|tcejbo-wen|_23niw|noisserpxe|ekovni|daolnwod)""", "🔥")

// Count how many patterns were detected by calculating the number of 🔥 characters inserted
| EVAL count = LENGTH(replaced_with_fire) - LENGTH(REPLACE(replaced_with_fire, "🔥", ""))

// Keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id
| KEEP count, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, agent.id
| WHERE count >= 2
'''


[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1027"
name = "Obfuscated Files or Information"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027/"

[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1140"
name = "Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1140/"


[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0005"
name = "Defense Evasion"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/"
[[rule.threat]]
framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
[[rule.threat.technique]]
id = "T1059"
name = "Command and Scripting Interpreter"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/"
[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
id = "T1059.001"
name = "PowerShell"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/001/"



[rule.threat.tactic]
id = "TA0002"
name = "Execution"
reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/"

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