Title:
XSL Script Execution Via WMIC.EXE
Status:
test
Description:Detects the execution of WMIC with the "format" flag to potentially load local XSL files.
Adversaries abuse this functionality to execute arbitrary files while potentially bypassing application whitelisting defenses.
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) files are commonly used to describe the processing and rendering of data within XML files.
References:
-https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1220/T1220.md
Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
Date: 2019-10-21
modified:2026-01-24
Tags:
- -'attack.stealth'
- -'attack.t1047'
- -'attack.t1220'
- -'attack.execution'
- -'attack.t1059.005'
- -'attack.t1059.007'
Logsource:
- category: process_creation
- product: windows
Detection:
selection_img:
Image|endswith:
'\wmic.exe'
OriginalFileName:
'wmic.exe'
- Hashes|contains:
- 'IMPHASH=1B1A3F43BF37B5BFE60751F2EE2F326E'
- 'IMPHASH=37777A96245A3C74EB217308F3546F4C'
- 'IMPHASH=9D87C9D67CE724033C0B40CC4CA1B206'
- 'IMPHASH=B12619881D79C3ACADF45E752A58554A'
- 'IMPHASH=16A48C3CABF98A9DC1BF02C07FE1EA00'
selection_cmd:
CommandLine|contains|windash:
'-format:'
filter_main_known_format:
CommandLine|contains:
-'Format:List'
-'Format:htable'
-'Format:hform'
-'Format:table'
-'Format:mof'
-'Format:value'
-'Format:rawxml'
-'Format:xml'
-'Format:csv'
filter_main_remote_operation:
CommandLine|contains:
-'://'
-'\\\\'
condition:
all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_main_*
Falsepositives:
-WMIC.exe FP depend on scripts and administrative methods used in the monitored environment.
-Static format arguments - https://petri.com/command-line-wmi-part-3
Level:
medium
