Sigma rule: Suspicious Mshta.EXE Execution Patterns

Rule

Title

Suspicious Mshta.EXE Execution Patterns

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2021-07-17

Modified

2023-02-21

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_mshta_susp_pattern.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious mshta process execution patterns

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\mshta.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'MSHTA.EXE'
selection_susp:
    # Suspicious parents
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\cmd.exe'
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\regsvr32.exe'
        - '\rundll32.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'
    # Suspicious folders
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '\AppData\Local\'
        - 'C:\ProgramData\'
        - 'C:\Users\Public\'
        - 'C:\Windows\Temp\'
filter_img:
    # Filter legit Locations
    - Image|startswith:
          - 'C:\Windows\System32\'
          - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\'
    # Suspicious extensions
    - CommandLine|contains:
          - '.htm'
          - '.hta'
    # Filter simple execution
    - CommandLine|endswith:
          - 'mshta.exe'
          - 'mshta'
condition: all of selection_* or (selection_img and not filter_img)

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1106

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1106

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_Application
• https://www.echotrail.io/insights/search/mshta.exe
• https://app.any.run/tasks/34221348-072d-4b70-93f3-aa71f6ebecad/

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_mshta_susp_pattern.yml