Suspicious Mshta Executed From Non-System Path (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218.005Mshta
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the mshta binary running from a location outside System32 which the CarnavalHeist trojan uses after copying mshta to a randomly named file to evade signature and path based detection. A renamed or relocated trusted LOLBin executing user content is a strong masquerading and signed proxy execution signal.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious mshta Execution of Remote HTA Payload

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Suspicious Mshta Execution of Remote Payload from Explorer via ClickFix Lure (via process_creation)

Suspicious Mshta Executed From Non-System Path (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1218.005 · 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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