Suspicious PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest Piped to Invoke-Expression via FakeBat Loader

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
ps_script
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-08-20
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → C2
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell downloading a remote payload with Invoke-WebRequest using a custom User-Agent and piping the response straight into Invoke-Expression. FakeBat, also tracked as EugenLoader, delivers this one liner through malvertising and fake software sites to stage its next component in memory. Fileless download and execute cradles like this bypass disk based controls and warrant investigation.

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Suspicious PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest Piped to Invoke-Expression via FakeBat Loader
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.