Suspicious MSBuild Inline Task Compilation of mini.xml

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-20
Updated
2026-10-20

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects MSBuild executing the project file mini.xml to compile and run inline code. This behavior matches post-exploitation of Ivanti CVE-2025-0282 where a msbuild.lnk shortcut invoked MSBuild as a trusted developer utility to execute attacker code. MSBuild compiling arbitrary XML project files is a proxy execution technique used to bypass application controls.

Related detections9 linkedT1127.001 — drag to rearrange
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
Proxy Execution via MSBuild Running Inline Task XML
MSBuild Executing Non-Project File or Remote Payload
Antivirus Check and Remote Loader Retrieval in LNK Command Chain
Suspicious MSBuild Execution From Office or Archive Extraction Context (via process_creation)
Suspicious MSBuild Inline Task Compilation of mini.xml
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.