PowerShell Profile Modification

SIGMA detection rule by HieuTT35, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) · NOASSERTION

Detects the creation or modification of a powershell profile which could indicate suspicious activity as the profile can be used as a mean of persistence

title: PowerShell Profile Modification
id: b5b78988-486d-4a80-b991-930eff3ff8bf
status: test
description: Detects the creation or modification of a powershell profile which could indicate suspicious activity as the profile can be used as a mean of persistence
references:
    - https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/05/29/turla-powershell-usage/
    - https://persistence-info.github.io/Data/powershellprofile.html
author: HieuTT35, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2019-10-24
modified: 2023-10-23
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.t1546.013
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: file_event
detection:
    selection:
        TargetFilename|endswith:
            - '\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1'
            - '\PowerShell\profile.ps1'
            - '\Program Files\PowerShell\7-preview\profile.ps1'
            - '\Program Files\PowerShell\7\profile.ps1'
            - '\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\profile.ps1'
            - '\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - System administrator creating Powershell profile manually
level: medium

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

c2b2b203-3ae2-4792-916c-5ac8ee7f3d20

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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

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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.

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What do these messages mean?

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

[[ currentRule.title ]]

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