Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation Launching a Script Interpreter (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Persistence
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Priv Esc
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects schtasks.exe creating a scheduled task whose action runs a command shell, PowerShell or another script interpreter or a payload from a user-writable path. Scheduled Task abuse is a top persistence and execution technique in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report, letting adversaries survive reboots and run code on a trigger. Detecting task creation that wraps an interpreter or suspicious path surfaces the persistence attempt as it is registered.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation Launching a Script Interpreter (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1053.005 · 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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