Suspicious PowerShell Download to Disk Then Execute (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

C2

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

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell downloading a remote file and saving it to disk with an output path, a common precursor to executing a staged payload. AresLoader retrieves its DLL over HTTP with an OutFile parameter before starting the process. Download-to-disk followed by local execution is a recurring ingress-tool-transfer behavior.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1105 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Hidden PowerShell WebClient DownloadFile Cradle

Suspicious PowerShell Download Cradle with Spoofed User-Agent via MSIX

Malicious PowerShell In-Memory Download Cradle via Script Block (via ps_script)

Suspicious Remote Access Tool User Agent in Outbound Traffic via Proxy

Malicious Hidden Virtual Machine Launched via QEMU for Persistence

Suspicious node.exe Execution Spawned by PowerShell

Suspicious Executable Download to Temp Directory via curl on Linux

Suspicious BITSAdmin File Transfer Into ProgramData via Process Creation (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Download Cradle via IEX and DownloadString (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Download to Disk Then Execute (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1105 · 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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