Malicious Msiexec Execution of Staged Update Package via Process Creation

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218.007Msiexec
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects msiexec.exe executing the update_ms.msi package staged in ProgramData, the installer proxy-execution step that loads the msaRAT lib.dll RUN export as reported by Cisco Talos in the Chaos ransomware campaign. Running a fetched MSI from ProgramData under msiexec launches the covert browser C2 implant. Detecting this execution catches proxy execution of the malicious installer after ingress.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.007 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Remote MSI Installation over WebDAV (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSI Installation from Public Music Directory via Msiexec (via process_creation)

Suspicious Msiexec Installation of Remote MSI from WebDAV Share (via process_creation)

Suspicious msiexec Remote Passive Install Loader

Suspicious Silent MSI Installation of Non-Standard BIN Payload via Msiexec (via process_creation)

Suspicious Antivirus Uninstallation via msiexec (via process_creation)

Suspicious Screensaver File Executed as Installer via process_creation

Suspicious Remote MSI Installation from Amazon S3 via msiexec

Suspicious Remote MSI Install of Dokan Driver via msiexec

Malicious Msiexec Execution of Staged Update Package via Process Creation

Pivot detection · T1218.007 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →