Executables created and executed within a short time - Microsoft Defender ATP Query

[genckelmendi]

I am trying to come up with an advanced hunting query in Defender ATP, that finds created files ending with .bat and .exe, and then searches for processes events on the same device no later than 30 minutes from the creation time of the .bat/.exe file, that contain the created filename in Process CommandLine, OR that created filename is equal to Process FileName.

Examples. A setup.exe is downloaded and executed after 7 minutes (Process FileName is equal to Created FileName and the time window between these events is less than 30 minutes.) Alternatively, a setup.bat is downloaded and executed after 29 minutes, cmd.exe will be launched with the parameter /c "C:\Users\username\Downloads\setup.bat" - setup.bat is a substring (contained) within the Process CommandLine, and the interval between these events are less then 30 minutes.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@genckelmendi 

Wrote this and works good enough for my purposes. Couple of changes though. I had to include also FileRenamed, because chromium-based browsers create the files under different filename until the download is finished. Also, I separated hunting for PE executables (.exe, .com, .scr, .pif) and non-PE packages or scripts that are dependent upon native PE executables (.msi [msiexec.exe], .bat [cmd.exe], .vbs [cscript.exe], .hta [mshta.exe], .ps1 [powershell.exe] etc.). 

Created and executed PE within 5 minutes in the last 3 days

DeviceFileEvents

| where Timestamp > ago(72h)

| where ActionType == "FileCreated" or ActionType == "FileRenamed"

| where FileName endswith ".exe" or FileName endswith ".com" or FileName endswith ".scr" or FileName endswith ".pif"

| join kind=inner (DeviceProcessEvents)

on DeviceId

| where Timestamp1 > ago(72h)

| where FolderPath == FolderPath1

| where InitiatingProcessFileName1 == "explorer.exe" or InitiatingProcessParentFileName1 == "explorer.exe"

| where (Timestamp1 - Timestamp) < timespan(5m) and (Timestamp1 - Timestamp) > timespan(0m)

| extend Difference = Timestamp1 - Timestamp

| project-rename Created=Timestamp, Executed=Timestamp1, ProcessFileName=FileName1, ProcHash=SHA2561

| project Created, PreviousFileName, Executed, Difference, DeviceName, ProcessFileName, FolderPath, AccountName, ProcessCommandLine, ProcHash

| order by Created desc

Created and executed Script within 5 minutes in the last 3 days

DeviceFileEvents

| where Timestamp > ago(72h)

| where ActionType == "FileCreated" or ActionType == "FileRenamed"

| where FileName endswith ".msi" or FileName endswith ".cmd" or FileName endswith ".bat"

or FileName endswith ".hta" or FileName endswith ".vbs" or FileName endswith ".vbe"

or FileName endswith ".vb" or FileName endswith ".vbscript" or FileName endswith ".wsf"

or FileName endswith ".wsh" or FileName endswith ".msp" or FileName endswith ".ps1"

or FileName endswith ".psm1" or FileName endswith ".psd1"

| join kind=inner (DeviceProcessEvents)

on DeviceId

| where Timestamp1 > ago(72h)

| where ProcessCommandLine contains FileName

| where InitiatingProcessFileName1 == "explorer.exe" or InitiatingProcessParentFileName1 == "explorer.exe"

| where (Timestamp1 - Timestamp) < timespan(5m) and (Timestamp1 - Timestamp) > timespan(0m)

| extend Difference = Timestamp1 - Timestamp

| project-rename Created=Timestamp, Executed=Timestamp1, ProcessName=FileName1, FileHash=SHA256

| project Created, PreviousFileName, Executed, Difference, DeviceName, FileName, FolderPath, ProcessName, ProcessCommandLine, AccountName, FileHash

| order by Created desc