diff --git a/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_whitespace_special_proportion.toml b/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_whitespace_special_proportion.toml new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..3dfcca8a918 --- /dev/null +++ b/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_whitespace_special_proportion.toml @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +[metadata] +creation_date = "2025/04/16" +integration = ["windows"] +maturity = "production" +updated_date = "2025/04/16" + +[rule] +author = ["Elastic"] +description = """ +Identifies PowerShell scripts with an unusually high proportion of whitespace and special characters, often indicative +of obfuscation. This behavior is commonly associated with techniques such as SecureString encoding, formatting +obfuscation, or character-level manipulation designed to bypass static analysis and AMSI inspection. +""" +from = "now-9m" +language = "esql" +license = "Elastic License v2" +name = "Potential PowerShell Obfuscation via Special Character Overuse" +risk_score = 21 +rule_id = "6ddb6c33-00ce-4acd-832a-24b251512023" +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" + +// Look for scripts with more than 1000 chars that contain a related keyword +| EVAL script_len = LENGTH(powershell.file.script_block_text) +| WHERE script_len > 1000 + +// 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, """[\s\$\{\}\+\@\=\(\)\^\\\"~\[\]\?\.]""", "🔥") + +// Count the occurrence of numbers and their proportion to the total chars in the script +| EVAL special_count = script_len - LENGTH(REPLACE(replaced_with_fire, "🔥", "")) +| EVAL proportion = special_count::double / script_len::double + +// Keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id +| KEEP special_count, script_len, proportion, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, host.name, agent.id, user.id + +// Filter for scripts with a 75%+ proportion of numbers +| WHERE proportion > 0.75 +''' + + +[[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/" +