Wusa.EXE Executed By Parent Process Located In Suspicious Location

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About the rule

Rule Type

Standard

Rule Description

Detects execution of the "wusa.exe" (Windows Update Standalone Installer) utility by a parent process that is located in a suspicious location. Attackers could instantiate an instance of "wusa.exe" in order to bypass User Account Control (UAC). They can duplicate the access token from "wusa.exe" to gain elevated privileges.

Severity

Trouble

Rule Requirement

Criteria

Action1: actionname = "Process started" AND PROCESSNAME endswith "\wusa.exe" AND (PARENTPROCESSNAME contains ":\Perflogs\,:\Users\Public\,:\Windows\Temp\,\Appdata\Local\Temp\,\Temporary Internet" OR ((PARENTPROCESSNAME contains ":\Users" AND PARENTPROCESSNAME contains "\Favorites") OR (PARENTPROCESSNAME contains ":\Users" AND PARENTPROCESSNAME contains "\Favourites") OR (PARENTPROCESSNAME contains ":\Users" AND PARENTPROCESSNAME contains "\Contacts") OR (PARENTPROCESSNAME contains ":\Users" AND PARENTPROCESSNAME contains "\Pictures"))) AND COMMANDLINE notcontains ".msu" select Action1.HOSTNAME,Action1.MESSAGE,Action1.COMMANDLINE,Action1.FILE_NAME,Action1.PROCESSNAME,Action1.USERNAME,Action1.PARENTPROCESSNAME

Detection

Execution Mode

realtime

Log Sources

Windows

Author

X__Junior (Nextron Systems)