Malicious Msiexec Installation of a Remote MSI 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 installing a package directly from a remote HTTP or UNC location, a System Binary Proxy Execution pattern used to fetch and run attacker-controlled installers under a signed Microsoft binary. This LOLBin abuse appears in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report as a way to bypass application allowlisting and deliver second-stage payloads. Detecting remote msiexec installs surfaces the proxy-download-and-execute behavior.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.007 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious msiexec Remote Package Installation over HTTP

Malicious MSI Installation from Remote WebDAV Share via process_creation

Suspicious Msiexec Remote Package Installation from URL via Process Creation

Suspicious Silent MSI Installation from AppData Spawned by PowerShell (via process_creation)

Masquerading Bumblebee Loader MSI Download via PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest and Silent msiexec (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSIEXEC Launching NVIDIA GeForce Experience Named Binary

Malicious Msiexec Installation of a Remote MSI 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.

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