Malicious Office Application Spawning a Command Shell or Script Interpreter (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
- T1059.003Windows Command Shell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a Microsoft Office application such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook launching a command shell or script interpreter, the classic child-process signature of a malicious macro or exploited document. Phishing-driven Windows Command Shell and script execution rank among the most prevalent techniques in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report, marking the transition from initial access to code execution. Detecting interpreter children of Office processes surfaces the intrusion at that hand-off.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Office Application Spawning a Command Shell or Script Interpreter (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 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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