Potential Adplus.EXE Abuse — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems). Source status: test; severity: high. Source dates: 2022-06-09 / 2023-06-23.

{
  "category": "process_creation",
  "product": "windows"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: b8666847beaaf628382df6d147ffa41ad6deac6b8f2225ccd8795a5a0eac6971

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 Adplus.EXE Abuse
id: 2f869d59-7f6a-4931-992c-cce556ff2d53
status: test
description: Detects execution of "AdPlus.exe", a binary that is part of the Windows SDK that can be used as a LOLBIN in order to dump process memory and execute arbitrary commands.
references:
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Adplus/
    - https://twitter.com/nas_bench/status/1534916659676422152
    - https://twitter.com/nas_bench/status/1534915321856917506
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-06-09
modified: 2023-06-23
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.t1003.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\adplus.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'Adplus.exe'
    selection_cli:
        CommandLine|contains:
            # Dump process memory
            - ' -hang '
            - ' -pn '
            - ' -pmn '
            - ' -p '
            - ' -po '
            # Using a config file
            - ' -c '
            # Execute commands inline
            - ' -sc '
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate usage of Adplus for debugging purposes
level: high

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Legitimate usage of Adplus for debugging purposes

Source references

• https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Adplus/
• https://twitter.com/nas_bench/status/1534916659676422152
• https://twitter.com/nas_bench/status/1534915321856917506