Suspicious mshta Execution of Remote HTA Payload

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 mshta fetching and executing an HTA from a remote URL, a proxy execution step in ACR Stealer intrusion chains that leads to PowerShell staging. Running a remote HTML application through a trusted Windows binary evades application controls and initiates the infostealer delivery chain.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.005 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious MSHTA VBScript WScript Shell Execution

Suspicious Remote HTA Payload Execution via MSHTA

Malicious Shell Spawned by Mshta Delivery (via process_creation)

Malicious Kimsuky Remote HTA Execution via URL Shortener (via process_creation)

ClickFix Paste-Jacking Execution of mshta Retrieving Remote Payload (via process_creation)

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

Malicious Forfiles Proxy Execution Launching PowerShell and MSHTA in PEAKLIGHT Chain (via process_creation)

Malicious mshta.exe Spawning bitsadmin via ClickFix Phantom Meet

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

Suspicious mshta Execution of Remote HTA Payload

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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