Suspicious PowerShell Loader Spawned by mshta via UNC5142 ClickFix

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218.005Mshta
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects mshta.exe spawning powershell.exe as observed in UNC5142 EtherHiding campaigns where an HTA disguised as an XLL launches an in-memory VIDAR or LUMMAC.V2 loader. Attackers abuse this chain to execute stager code from a fake browser update lure while evading disk based detection.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious mshta Spawning PowerShell Loader via ClickFix

Malicious Forfiles Proxy Execution Launching PowerShell and MSHTA in PEAKLIGHT Chain (via process_creation)

Malicious ClickFix PowerShell Launching mshta with Remote URL (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Query of MSHTA Application Class in PEAKLIGHT Chain (via ps_script)

Windows: PowerShell-triggered HTA retrieval and execution with registry and process disruption

Suspicious ClickFix Clipboard PowerShell Execution from Run Dialog

Suspicious PEAKLIGHT Memory-Only PowerShell Downloader Flags (via process_creation)

Malicious Active Directory ACL Manipulation via PowerView

Suspicious PowerShell Loader Spawned by mshta via UNC5142 ClickFix

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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