Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation Running VBScript for Persistence via Command Line

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 creation of a scheduled task that launches a VBScript through wscript or cscript, a persistence pattern used by the AsyncRAT loader in Operation PhantomControl. Attackers register such tasks to relaunch their loader after reboot. Catching the task registration surfaces persistence establishment early in the intrusion.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1053.005 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as OneDrive Security Task via Command Line

Suspicious Scheduled Task Running VBScript on Short Recurring Interval via Command Line

Suspicious Scheduled Task Under NetFramework Path via PHANTOMPULSE

Suspicious Scheduled Task Updater Creation for Loader Persistence via process_creation

Malicious GHOSTENGINE Scheduled Task Creation Masquerading as Updater via process_creation

Suspicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Office Update via Process Creation

Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation from XML Definition via Process Creation

Suspicious Scheduled Task Named WindowsHelper (via process_creation)

Scheduled Task Masquerading as Microsoft Wininet Config

Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation Running VBScript for Persistence via Command Line

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.

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →