some legitimate administrative tools may use custom executables in the windowsapps folder for persistence or automation. verify the executable's origin before flagging to avoid false positives.

Techniques

T1574.008

Sample rules

Windows Get-Variable.EXE Execution from WindowsApps Folder

source: splunk
technicques:
- T1574.008

Description

An attacker can obtain persistence by hijacking the PowerShell cmdlet ‘Get-Variable’ by placing Get-Variable.exe in the WindowsApps folder, which is part of the PowerShell path. Whenever a PowerShell window is opened via a scheduled task, the malicious Get-Variable.exe will be run. This activity was first associated with the Colibri malware.

Detection logic


| tstats `security_content_summariesonly`
  count min(_time) as firstTime
        max(_time) as lastTime

from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where

Processes.process_path="*\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\Get-Variable.exe"

by Processes.process Processes.vendor_product Processes.user_id Processes.process_hash
   Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.action
   Processes.dest Processes.process_current_directory Processes.process_path
   Processes.process_integrity_level Processes.original_file_name Processes.parent_process
   Processes.parent_process_path Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.parent_process_id
   Processes.process_guid Processes.process_id Processes.user Processes.process_name


| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

| `windows_get_variable_exe_execution_from_windowsapps_folder_filter`