Potential Persistence Via PowerShell User Profile Using Add-Content — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2021-08-18 / 2023-05-04.

{
  "product": "windows",
  "category": "ps_script",
  "definition": "Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: d6834f8e36c8cdfa2aaddbdec0a3ec097e91bebbb2ef7cfd1f50364c47f82e58

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: Potential Persistence Via PowerShell User Profile Using Add-Content
id: 05b3e303-faf0-4f4a-9b30-46cc13e69152
status: test
description: Detects calls to "Add-Content" cmdlet in order to modify the content of the user profile and potentially adding suspicious commands for persistence
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1546.013/T1546.013.md
author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-08-18
modified: 2023-05-04
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.t1546.013
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: ps_script
    definition: 'Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled'
detection:
    selection_add:
        ScriptBlockText|contains: 'Add-Content $profile'
    selection_options:
        ScriptBlockText|contains:
            # Note: You can add more suspicious values
            - '-Value "IEX '
            - '-Value "Invoke-Expression'
            - '-Value "Invoke-WebRequest'
            - '-Value "Start-Process'
            - "-Value 'IEX "
            - "-Value 'Invoke-Expression"
            - "-Value 'Invoke-WebRequest"
            - "-Value 'Start-Process"
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administration and tuning scripts that aim to add functionality to a user PowerShell session
level: medium

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate administration and tuning scripts that aim to add functionality to a user PowerShell session

Source references

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1546.013/T1546.013.md