Suspicious PowerShell Hidden Download Cradle via IEX

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 launched with a hidden window and no profile executing a download cradle that pipes remote content straight into invoke expression as shown in the Cobalt Kitty chain described by WithSecure. Fetching and immediately executing remote script content in a hidden PowerShell window is a classic stager for in memory implants such as Cobalt Strike.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious PowerShell WebClient DownloadString Payload Retrieval via Script (via ps_script)

Suspicious PowerShell Download of Disguised Payload to ProgramData

Suspicious PowerShell WebClient Download of Executable Payload

Suspicious PowerShell Remote Script Execution via IEX DownloadString

Suspicious PowerShell Download Cradle to Blogspot (via process_creation)

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 node.exe Execution Spawned by PowerShell

Suspicious PowerShell Hidden Download Cradle via IEX

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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