Suspicious PIKABOT PowerShell Download to Public Directory via Process Creation

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1105Ingress Tool Transfer
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell using Invoke-WebRequest to download an executable into the public users directory which is the delivery step of the PIKABOT infection chain after an obfuscated script launches PowerShell. Fetching a payload directly into a world-writable path is a common malware staging behavior.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious ActiveMQ Exploitation Java Spawning PowerShell Downloader (via process_creation)

Malicious In-Memory Payload Execution via PowerShell DownloadString (via process_creation)

Suspicious Remote Script Download and Execution via iwr Piped to iex

Suspicious PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest Download of Executable Payload

Suspicious PIKABOT PowerShell Download to Public Directory via Process Creation

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.

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