Suspicious Obfuscated Hidden PowerShell with Encoded Command

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell launched with hidden window, no-profile, and no-logo flags together with an encoded or Base64 command argument, an execution pattern observed in a nation-state APT campaign delivering XenoRAT through LNK files that decoded a randomly named script. It captures concealed and encoded script execution used to run in-memory payloads. Detecting this is important because the combination of hidden execution and encoded commands is a strong indicator of obfuscated malicious PowerShell.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Hidden PowerShell Launched by Batch Script

Suspicious PowerShell String Concatenation Obfuscation for Batch Extension via LNK (via process_creation)

Suspicious AutoIt Interpreter Launched by Script Host or Shell

Suspicious PowerShell Spawned by WScript With Hidden Bypass via PureLogs Loader (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Execution of TrainedDataStore Script

Suspicious Archive Expansion into Public User Directory via PowerShell (via ps_script)

Suspicious ClickFix PowerShell Download Cradle via TAG-150 Tradecraft

Malicious PowerShell Download of FortiEndpoint Patch Masquerade via EKZ Stealer

Suspicious Delayed Expansion Command Obfuscation Building PowerShell via Amatera Stealer

Suspicious Obfuscated Hidden PowerShell with Encoded Command

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 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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