Suspicious PowerShell Invocations - Specific — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Jonhnathan Ribeiro. Source status: test; severity: high. Source dates: 2017-03-05 / 2025-02-17.

{
  "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: b951802ebd02b19c0f41ce8fa26f54ce8b5001db21e064dc44a7c831aa7aca96

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: Suspicious PowerShell Invocations - Specific
id: ae7fbf8e-f3cb-49fd-8db4-5f3bed522c71
related:
    - id: fce5f582-cc00-41e1-941a-c6fabf0fdb8c
      type: obsolete
    - id: 8ff28fdd-e2fa-4dfa-aeda-ef3d61c62090
      type: similar
    - id: 536e2947-3729-478c-9903-745aaffe60d2
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects suspicious PowerShell invocation command parameters
references:
    - Internal Research
    - https://github.com/HackTricks-wiki/hacktricks/blob/e4c7b21b8f36c97c35b7c622732b38a189ce18f7/src/windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation/privilege-escalation-with-autorun-binaries.md
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Jonhnathan Ribeiro
date: 2017-03-05
modified: 2025-02-17
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: ps_script
    definition: 'Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled'
detection:
    selection_convert_b64:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - '-nop'
            - ' -w '
            - 'hidden'
            - ' -c '
            - '[Convert]::FromBase64String'
    selection_iex_selection:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - ' -w '
            - 'hidden'
            - '-noni'
            - '-nop'
            - ' -c '
            - 'iex'
            - 'New-Object'
    selection_enc_selection:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - ' -w '
            - 'hidden'
            - '-ep'
            - 'bypass'
            - '-Enc'
    selection_reg_selection:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - 'powershell'
            - 'reg'
            - 'add'
        ScriptBlockText|contains:
            - '\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run'
            - '\software\wow6432node\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run'
            - '\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\explorer\run'
    selection_webclient_selection:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - 'bypass'
            - '-noprofile'
            - '-windowstyle'
            - 'hidden'
            - 'new-object'
            - 'system.net.webclient'
            - '.download'
    selection_iex_webclient:
        ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
            - 'iex'
            - 'New-Object'
            - 'Net.WebClient'
            - '.Download'
    filter_chocolatey:
        ScriptBlockText|contains:
            - "(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1"
            - "(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1')"
            - 'Write-ChocolateyWarning'
    condition: 1 of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Unknown

Source references

• Internal Research (source note; no public URL supplied)
• https://github.com/HackTricks-wiki/hacktricks/blob/e4c7b21b8f36c97c35b7c622732b38a189ce18f7/src/windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation/privilege-escalation-with-autorun-binaries.md