From a9f99137f324e8b00d57830cbd2e6de2b6f72ce2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jonhnathan <26856693+w0rk3r@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2025 11:47:03 -0300 Subject: [PATCH] [New Rule] Dynamic IEX Reconstruction via Method String Access (#4634) --- ...obfuscation_iex_string_reconstruction.toml | 105 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 105 insertions(+) create mode 100644 rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_iex_string_reconstruction.toml diff --git a/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_iex_string_reconstruction.toml b/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_iex_string_reconstruction.toml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e6b147048 --- /dev/null +++ b/rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_iex_string_reconstruction.toml @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +[metadata] +creation_date = "2025/04/16" +integration = ["windows"] +maturity = "production" +updated_date = "2025/04/16" + +[rule] +author = ["Elastic"] +description = """ +Identifies PowerShell scripts that reconstruct the IEX (Invoke-Expression) command by accessing and indexing the string +representation of method references. This obfuscation technique uses constructs like ''.IndexOf.ToString() to expose +method metadata as a string, then extracts specific characters through indexed access and joins them to form IEX, +bypassing static keyword detection and evading defenses such as AMSI. +""" +from = "now-9m" +language = "esql" +license = "Elastic License v2" +name = "Dynamic IEX Reconstruction via Method String Access" +risk_score = 21 +rule_id = "9f432a8b-9588-4550-838e-1f77285580d3" +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 500 chars that contain a related keyword +| EVAL script_len = LENGTH(powershell.file.script_block_text) +| WHERE script_len > 500 + +// 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)['"]['"].(Insert|Normalize|Chars|SubString|Remove|LastIndexOfAny|LastIndexOf|IsNormalized|IndexOfAny|IndexOf)[^\[]+\[\d+,\d+,\d+\]""", "🔥") + +// 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, host.name, agent.id, user.id +| WHERE count >= 1 +''' + + +[[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/" +