Suspicious Decoy Copy and Rename of PDF to Executable (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1204.002Malicious File
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a malicious LNK using xcopy or ren to copy a decoy PDF and rename it into an executable or DLL as part of a Cobalt Strike delivery chain distributed via GitHub and Quora dead-drops. Disguising a payload as a document and flipping the extension at runtime lets the attacker present a benign lure while planting the real loader on disk.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Decoy Copy and Rename of PDF to Executable (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1204.002 · 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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