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Cscript/Wscript Potentially Suspicious Child Process

Sigma Rules

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Summary
This rule aims to detect potentially suspicious child processes spawned by Wscript or Cscript, which are Windows scripting engines that often serve as execution vectors for malicious activities. The detection logic focuses on child processes initiated by either Wscript.exe or Cscript.exe. It particularly looks for instances where these parent processes invoke command-line interfaces like cmd.exe or PowerShell, as well as less common scripts such as mshta, which could indicate an attempt to run potentially harmful commands. Additionally, it detects specific command-line options associated with known malicious activity, such as rundll32 and regsvr32, particularly when utilizing unusual exports or parameters indicative of exploitation techniques seen in malware like Pikabot and Qakbot. The rule is nuanced enough to filter out benign activity to some extent but may result in false positives, particularly with administrative or legitimate third-party scripts, necessitating further validation before marking an event as malicious.
Categories
  • Windows
  • Endpoint
Data Sources
  • Process
Created: 2023-05-15