Suspicious mshta Execution of Remote or Inline Payload (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 mshta.exe executing content from a remote URL or an inline script protocol, a proxied execution step in Storm-0978 CVE-2023-36884 exploitation. Attackers use mshta to run downloaded OLE-delivered payloads while blending with the trusted HTML application host.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218.005 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Copy of System mshta.exe into ProgramData by SideWinder APT

Malicious Renamed mshta.exe Execution by SideWinder APT

Suspicious MSHTA Execution Spawned by Browser or Document Reader via Mispadu (via process_creation)

Suspicious Office Application Spawning Mshta With Remote HTA

Suspicious mshta Execution of Remote or Inline Payload (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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