Potentially Suspicious Execution Of PDQDeployRunner

SIGMA detection rule by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · NOASSERTION

Detects suspicious execution of "PDQDeployRunner" which is part of the PDQDeploy service stack that is responsible for executing commands and packages on a remote machines

title: Potentially Suspicious Execution Of PDQDeployRunner
id: 12b8e9f5-96b2-41e1-9a42-8c6779a5c184
related:
    - id: d679950c-abb7-43a6-80fb-2a480c4fc450
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects suspicious execution of "PDQDeployRunner" which is part of the PDQDeploy service stack that is responsible for executing commands and packages on a remote machines
references:
    - https://twitter.com/malmoeb/status/1550483085472432128
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-07-22
modified: 2024-05-02
tags:
    - attack.execution
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_parent:
        ParentImage|contains: '\PDQDeployRunner-'
    selection_child:
        # Improve this section by adding other suspicious processes, commandlines or paths
        - Image|endswith:
              # If you use any of the following processes legitimately comment them out
              - '\bash.exe'
              - '\certutil.exe'
              - '\cmd.exe'
              - '\csc.exe'
              - '\cscript.exe'
              - '\dllhost.exe'
              - '\mshta.exe'
              - '\msiexec.exe'
              - '\regsvr32.exe'
              - '\rundll32.exe'
              - '\scriptrunner.exe'
              - '\wmic.exe'
              - '\wscript.exe'
              - '\wsl.exe'
        - Image|contains:
              - ':\ProgramData\'
              - ':\Users\Public\'
              - ':\Windows\TEMP\'
              - '\AppData\Local\Temp'
        - CommandLine|contains:
              - ' -decode '
              - ' -enc '
              - ' -encodedcommand '
              - ' -w hidden'
              - 'DownloadString'
              - 'FromBase64String'
              - 'http'
              - 'iex '
              - 'Invoke-'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the PDQDeploy tool to execute these commands
level: medium

[[ currentRule.title && currentRule.title.length > 60 ? currentRule.title.slice(0, 60) + '…' : currentRule.title ]]

6d695cd6-3647-41e8-ab99-e8fcaf82ebbd

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Executable code, not a declarative rule

This submission is arbitrary [[ currentRule.format ? currentRule.format.toUpperCase() : '' ]] code, not a declarative detection rule — review it as you would any script before running it, and note that it cannot be safely aggregated or auto-executed alongside YARA/Sigma/Suricata/CRS rules.

Rejected pattern present

[[ reason ]]

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Format & documentation suggestions

Not a security issue — this rule is valid and was accepted as-is. These are optional fields/conventions its own format recommends, mainly affecting its quality score and how well it documents itself for other reviewers.

[[ reason ]]

What do these messages mean?

[[ currentRule.title && currentRule.title.length > 60 ? currentRule.title.slice(0, 60) + '…' : currentRule.title ]]

[[ currentRule.title ]]

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