[Rule Tuning] PowerShell ES|QL Rules Tuning

rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_backtick.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 creation_date = "2025/04/15"
 integration = ["windows"]
 maturity = "production"
-updated_date = "2025/04/15"
+updated_date = "2025/06/10"
 
 [rule]
 author = ["Elastic"]
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ FROM logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
 
 // Filter FPs, and due to the behavior of the LIKE operator, allow null values
 | WHERE (file.name NOT LIKE "TSS_*.psm1" or file.name IS NULL)
+
+| WHERE
+    // VSCode Shell integration
+    NOT powershell.file.script_block_text LIKE "*$([char]0x1b)]633*"
 '''
 
 [[rule.threat]]

rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_high_number_proportion.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 creation_date = "2025/04/16"
 integration = ["windows"]
 maturity = "production"
-updated_date = "2025/04/16"
+updated_date = "2025/06/10"
 
 [rule]
 author = ["Elastic"]
@@ -65,8 +65,12 @@ FROM logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
 // Keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id
 | KEEP special_count, script_len, proportion, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, host.name, agent.id, user.id
 
-// Filter for scripts with a 25%+ proportion of numbers
-| WHERE proportion > 0.25
+// Filter for scripts with a 30%+ proportion of numbers
+| WHERE proportion > 0.30
+
+// Exclude noisy patterns
+| WHERE
+    NOT powershell.file.script_block_text RLIKE """.*\"[a-fA-F0-9]{64}\"\,.*"""
 '''
 
 

rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_string_concat.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 creation_date = "2025/04/14"
 integration = ["windows"]
 maturity = "production"
-updated_date = "2025/04/14"
+updated_date = "2025/06/10"
 
 [rule]
 author = ["Elastic"]
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from = "now-9m"
 language = "esql"
 license = "Elastic License v2"
 name = "Potential PowerShell Obfuscation via String Concatenation"
-risk_score = 21
+risk_score = 47
 rule_id = "f6d8c743-0916-4483-8333-3c6f107e0caa"
 setup = """## Setup
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Steps to implement the logging policy via registry:
 reg add "hklm\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\PowerShell\\ScriptBlockLogging" /v EnableScriptBlockLogging /t REG_DWORD /d 1
 ```
 """
-severity = "low"
+severity = "medium"
 tags = [
     "Domain: Endpoint",
     "OS: Windows",

rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_string_format.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 creation_date = "2025/04/03"
 integration = ["windows"]
 maturity = "production"
-updated_date = "2025/04/03"
+updated_date = "2025/06/10"
 
 [rule]
 author = ["Elastic"]
@@ -65,6 +65,20 @@ FROM logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
 // Keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id
 | KEEP count, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, host.name, agent.id, user.id
 | WHERE count > 3
+
+// Exclude Noisy Patterns
+
+// Icinga Framework
+| WHERE (file.name NOT LIKE "framework_cache.psm1" or file.name IS NULL)
+| WHERE NOT
+    // https://wtfbins.wtf/17
+    (
+        (powershell.file.script_block_text LIKE "*sentinelbreakpoints*" OR
+         powershell.file.script_block_text LIKE "*:::::\\\\windows\\\\sentinel*")
+        AND
+        (powershell.file.script_block_text LIKE "*$local:Bypassed*" OR
+        powershell.file.script_block_text LIKE "*origPSExecutionPolicyPreference*")
+    )
 '''
 
 

rules/windows/defense_evasion_posh_obfuscation_whitespace_special_proportion.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 creation_date = "2025/04/16"
 integration = ["windows"]
 maturity = "production"
-updated_date = "2025/04/16"
+updated_date = "2025/06/10"
 
 [rule]
 author = ["Elastic"]
@@ -50,20 +50,23 @@ query = '''
 FROM logs-windows.powershell_operational* metadata _id, _version, _index
 | WHERE event.code == "4104"
 
+// Replace repeated spaces used for formatting after a new line with a single space to reduce FPs
+| EVAL dedup_space_script_block = REPLACE(powershell.file.script_block_text, """\n\s+""", "\n ")
+
 // Look for scripts with more than 1000 chars that contain a related keyword
-| EVAL script_len = LENGTH(powershell.file.script_block_text)
+| EVAL script_len = LENGTH(dedup_space_script_block)
 | WHERE script_len > 1000
 
 // Replace string format expressions with 🔥 to enable counting the occurrence of the patterns we are looking for
 // The emoji is used because it's unlikely to appear in scripts and has a consistent character length of 1
-| EVAL replaced_with_fire = REPLACE(powershell.file.script_block_text, """[\s\$\{\}\+\@\=\(\)\^\\\"~\[\]\?\.]""", "🔥")
+| EVAL replaced_with_fire = REPLACE(dedup_space_script_block, """[\s\$\{\}\+\@\=\(\)\^\\\"~\[\]\?\.]""", "🔥")
 
 // Count the occurrence of numbers and their proportion to the total chars in the script
 | EVAL special_count = script_len - LENGTH(REPLACE(replaced_with_fire, "🔥", ""))
 | EVAL proportion = special_count::double / script_len::double
 
 // Keep the fields relevant to the query, although this is not needed as the alert is populated using _id
-| KEEP special_count, script_len, proportion, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, host.name, agent.id, user.id
+| KEEP special_count, script_len, proportion, dedup_space_script_block, replaced_with_fire, powershell.file.script_block_text, powershell.file.script_block_id, file.path, powershell.sequence, powershell.total, _id, _index, host.name, agent.id, user.id
 
 // Filter for scripts with a 75%+ proportion of numbers
 | WHERE proportion > 0.75