huntrule

Windows Process Creation: cscript/wscript Register-App.vbs COM+ Registration

Alert on cscript/wscript running “.vbs -register” to register COM+ components, potentially leveraging register_app.vbs.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Austin Songer @austinsonger (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-11-05
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags executions of cscript.exe or wscript.exe running a VBS file with the command-line pattern “.vbs -register”. It targets attempts to register COM+ providers via register_app.vbs, which can enable attackers to set up malicious component loading for persistence or execution. The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry, specifically the process image name and command-line content.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious .NET LOLBin Execution via CasPol or RegAsm
Possible DarkGate DLL Sideloading via iTunesHelper Loading CoreFoundation
Suspicious extrac32 CAB Extraction Abuse
Malicious cdb.exe Masquerading as fontdrvhost in ProgramData (via process_creation)
Malicious certutil Decodehex Payload Reconstruction by DarkGate
Malicious MSIX Package Execution via App Installer ms-appinstaller Protocol (via process_creation)
Malicious ViPNet Backdoor Loader via lumpdiag.exe Path Substitution
Suspicious BitLockerToGo Execution from Unusual Parent
Suspicious Proxy Execution via pcalua
Windows Process Creation: cscript/wscript Register-App.vbs COM+ Registration
Pivot detection · T1218 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.