Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Office Product Loading Taskschd DLL
The following analytic detects an Office document creating a scheduled task, either through a macro VBA API or by loading taskschd.dll. This detection leverages Sysmon EventCode 7 to identify when Office applications load the taskschd.dll file. This activity is significant as it is a common technique used by malicious macro malware to establish persistence or initiate beaconing. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to maintain persistence, execute arbitrary commands, or schedule future malicious activities, posing a significant threat to the environment.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Initial Access | T1566.001 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | 7 | Image loaded |
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
search EventCode=7 loaded_file_path="*\\taskschd.dll" process_name IN ("EQNEDT32.exe", "Graph.exe", "excel.exe", "msaccess.exe", "mspub.exe", "onenote.exe", "onenoteim.exe", "onenotem.exe", "outlook.exe", "powerpnt.exe", "visio.exe", "winproj.exe", "winword.exe")
Stage 2: fillnull
fillnull
Stage 3: stats
stats BY Image, ImageLoaded, dest, loaded_file, loaded_file_path, original_file_name, process_exec, process_guid, process_hash, process_id, process_name, process_path, service_dll_signature_exists, service_dll_signature_verified, signature, signature_id, user_id, vendor_product
Stage 4: search
search
Stage 5: search
search
Stage 6: search
search `macro`
Indicators
Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
EventCode | eq |
|
loaded_file_path | eq |
|
process_name | in |
|
Neighbors
Broader alternatives (more inclusive than this rule)
These rules match a superset of what this rule catches. They cover the same events plus more. Use them if you want wider coverage and can absorb more false positives.
- Windows Remote Access Software BRC4 Loaded Dll (drops 2 filters this rule applies)