Behavioral Detection Strategy for WMI Execution Abuse on Windows

ID: DET0364
Domains: Enterprise
Analytics: AN1031
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 October 2025
Last Modified: 21 October 2025

Analytics

AN1031

Detects adversarial abuse of WMI to execute local or remote commands via WMIC, PowerShell, or COM API through a multi-event chain: process creation, command execution, and corresponding network connection if remote.

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
Process Creation (DC0032) WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=1
Network Connection Creation (DC0082) WinEventLog:Sysmon EventCode=3
WMI Creation (DC0008) WinEventLog:WMI EventCode=5857, 5858
Mutable Elements
Field Description
WMIQueryScope Restrict detection scope to suspicious WMI namespaces like `\root\cimv2`, `\root\subscription`.
TimeWindow Set maximum allowable time window to correlate WMI process creation and remote connections.
UserContext Tune based on interactive vs. system-level execution (e.g., via SYSTEM or low-privileged users).
RemoteDestinationThreshold Number of unique remote hosts contacted using WMI within a time window.
SuspiciousCommandPatterns Regex patterns to identify adversary-like usage (e.g., `wmic process call`, `powershell Invoke-WmiMethod`).