Suspicious Scheduled Task Executing Binary from User-Writable Directory

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 the scheduled-task engine taskeng.exe repeatedly launching binaries from user-writable directories such as ProgramData, AppData or Public. Adversaries use scheduled tasks to relaunch side-loaded payloads from these non-standard locations. Execution of tasks from writable paths is anomalous and warrants review.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Scheduled Task Executing Binary from User-Writable Directory

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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