Adversaries may establish persistence and elevate privileges by executing malicious content triggered by a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) event subscription. WMI can be used to install event filters, providers, consumers, and bindings that execute code when a defined event occurs. Examples of events that may be subscribed to are the wall clock time, user login, or the computer's uptime.^[1]

Adversaries may use the capabilities of WMI to subscribe to an event and execute arbitrary code when that event occurs, providing persistence on a system.^[2],[3] Adversaries may also compile WMI scripts – using mofcomp.exe –into Windows Management Object (MOF) files (.mof extension) that can be used to create a malicious subscription.^[4],[5]

WMI subscription execution is proxied by the WMI Provider Host process (WmiPrvSe.exe) and thus may result in elevated SYSTEM privileges.

References

1. Mandiant. (2015, February 24). M-Trends 2015: A View from the Front Lines. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
2. Devon Kerr. (2015). There's Something About WMI. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
3. Ballenthin, W., et al. (2015). Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Offense, Defense, and Forensics. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
4. Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU) Research Team. (2016, March 28). A Novel WMI Persistence Implementation. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
5. Satran, M. (2018, May 30). Managed Object Format (MOF). Retrieved January 24, 2020.

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