Suspicious Esentutl Steals Browser Information (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious Esentutl Steals Browser Information (via process_creation)
id: 93010bce-ffa3-5674-a6f7-fa21f806395f
status: stable
description: This rule detects one way Qbot steals sensitive information is by extracting browser data from Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge by using the built-in utility esentutl.exe
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1005/
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/02/07/qbot-likes-to-move-it-move-it/
    - https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/threats/qbot/
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2022/10/31/follina-exploit-leads-to-domain-compromise/
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-02-02
tags:
    - attack.collection
    - attack.t1005
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\esentutl.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'esentutl.exe'
    selection_flag:
        CommandLine|contains|windash: '-r'
    selection_webcache:
        CommandLine|contains: '\Windows\WebCache'
    condition: all of selection*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium