Suspicious MSBuild Execution Spawned by Interactive Shell for Code Proxying (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1127.001MSBuild
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1127.001MSBuild
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the developer utility MSBuild being launched by an interactive shell or scripting host rather than a build toolchain, the trusted-binary abuse in this multi-gang intrusion where MSBuild was used to proxy SectopRAT execution. Adversaries run MSBuild to compile and execute inline C sharp payloads under a signed Microsoft binary, so MSBuild parented by cmd powershell or explorer on a non-developer host is a code-execution indicator that can be filtered on build servers.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1127.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious MSBuild Spawned by PowerShell (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSBuild Execution of Project File from ProgramData (via process_creation)

Malicious MSBuild Execution of Downloaded csproj Project File (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSBuild Inline Task Compilation of mini.xml

Suspicious MSBuild Execution Spawned by Command Shell for Process Hollowing (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSBuild Execution of Inline Payload (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSBuild Execution as LOLBin from User-Writable Path (via process_creation)

Suspicious Local XML Compilation via MSBuild

Malicious Winlogon Shell Hijack Loading MSBuild

Suspicious MSBuild Execution Spawned by Interactive Shell for Code Proxying (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1127.001 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

Full detection rule

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