Suspicious curl Download Launched from PDF Shortcut Lure (via process_creation)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-14
- Updated
- 2026-10-14
ATT&CK techniques
ExecutionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects curl.exe fetching remote content when spawned from a shortcut with a double pdf.lnk extension. Mint Sandstorm delivered fake PDF shortcuts that invoked curl to download follow-on payloads.
Reporting behind it
- microsoft.comhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/01/17/new-ttps-observed-in-mint-sandstorm-campaign-targeting-high-profile-individuals-at-universities-and-research-orgs/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1204/002/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105/
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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