Suspicious more_eggs XSL Transform Execution via msxsl from ProgramData (via process_creation)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-30
- Updated
- 2026-10-30
ATT&CK techniques
Defense EvasionRecon
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 the msxsl command-line XSL transformer running from a ProgramData path, the stage-four more_eggs execution technique where a dropped msxsl processed obfuscated payload files. Adversaries abuse msxsl as a trusted utility to execute embedded script outside script-host controls, so its presence under ProgramData rather than a developer toolchain indicates malicious JScript execution.
Reporting behind it
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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