Detection: Powershell Load Module in Meterpreter

Description

The following analytic detects the execution of suspicious PowerShell commands associated with Meterpreter modules, such as "MSF.Powershell" and "MSF.Powershell.Meterpreter". It leverages PowerShell Script Block Logging (EventCode=4104) to capture and analyze the full command sent to PowerShell. This activity is significant as it indicates potential post-exploitation actions, including credential dumping and persistence mechanisms. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain extensive control over the compromised system, escalate privileges, and maintain long-term access, posing a severe threat to the environment.

Search

1`powershell` EventCode=4104 ScriptBlockText IN ("*MSF.Powershell*","*MSF.Powershell.Meterpreter*","*MSF.Powershell.Meterpreter.Kiwi*","*MSF.Powershell.Meterpreter.Transport*") 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by EventCode ScriptBlockText Computer user_id 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `powershell_load_module_in_meterpreter_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source	Supported App
Powershell Script Block Logging 4104	Windows	'xmlwineventlog'	'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational'	N/A

Macros Used

Annotations

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Implementation

The following analytic requires PowerShell operational logs to be imported. Modify the powershell macro as needed to match the sourcetype or add index. This analytic is specific to 4104, or PowerShell Script Block Logging.

Known False Positives

False positives should be very limited as this is strict to MetaSploit behavior.

Associated Analytic Story

• MetaSploit

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

References

• https://github.com/OJ/metasploit-payloads/blob/master/powershell/MSF.Powershell/Scripts.cs

Detection Testing

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 2