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Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills/skills/analyzing-powershell-empire-artifacts/SKILL.md
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mukul975 ef27f026cb feat: enrich 209 skills with MITRE ATLAS, D3FEND, and NIST AI RMF frontmatter
Added structured security framework mappings to SKILL.md frontmatter across all applicable skills:
- atlas_techniques: MITRE ATLAS v5.5 AML.TXXXX IDs (81 skills, AI-targeted attack techniques)
- d3fend_techniques: MITRE D3FEND v1.3 defensive technique labels (139 skills, mapped from ATT&CK IDs)
- nist_ai_rmf: NIST AI RMF 1.0 subcategory IDs (85 skills, AI risk management functions)

Also updates ATTACK_COVERAGE.md with coverage statistics for all three frameworks.
2026-04-06 01:56:17 +02:00

2.5 KiB

name, description, domain, subdomain, tags, version, author, license, d3fend_techniques, nist_ai_rmf
name description domain subdomain tags version author license d3fend_techniques nist_ai_rmf
analyzing-powershell-empire-artifacts Detect PowerShell Empire framework artifacts in Windows event logs by identifying Base64 encoded launcher patterns, default user agents, staging URL structures, stager IOCs, and known Empire module signatures in Script Block Logging events. cybersecurity threat-hunting
PowerShell-Empire
threat-hunting
Script-Block-Logging
base64
stager
C2
MITRE-ATT&CK
T1059.001
forensics
1.0 mahipal Apache-2.0
Executable Denylisting
Execution Isolation
File Metadata Consistency Validation
Content Format Conversion
File Content Analysis
GOVERN-1.1
MEASURE-2.7
MANAGE-3.1

Analyzing PowerShell Empire Artifacts

Overview

PowerShell Empire is a post-exploitation framework consisting of listeners, stagers, and agents. Its artifacts leave detectable traces in Windows event logs, particularly PowerShell Script Block Logging (Event ID 4104) and Module Logging (Event ID 4103). This skill analyzes event logs for Empire's default launcher string (powershell -noP -sta -w 1 -enc), Base64 encoded payloads containing System.Net.WebClient and FromBase64String, known module invocations (Invoke-Mimikatz, Invoke-Kerberoast, Invoke-TokenManipulation), and staging URL patterns.

When to Use

  • When investigating security incidents that require analyzing powershell empire artifacts
  • When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
  • When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
  • When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.9+ with access to Windows Event Log or exported EVTX files
  • PowerShell Script Block Logging (Event ID 4104) enabled via Group Policy
  • Module Logging (Event ID 4103) enabled for comprehensive coverage

Key Detection Patterns

  1. Default launcherpowershell -noP -sta -w 1 -enc followed by Base64 blob
  2. Stager indicatorsSystem.Net.WebClient, DownloadData, DownloadString, FromBase64String
  3. Module signatures — Invoke-Mimikatz, Invoke-Kerberoast, Invoke-TokenManipulation, Invoke-PSInject, Invoke-DCOM
  4. User agent strings — default Empire user agents in HTTP listener configuration
  5. Staging URLs/login/process.php, /admin/get.php and similar default URI patterns

Output

JSON report with matched IOCs, decoded Base64 payloads, timeline of suspicious events, MITRE ATT&CK technique mappings, and severity scores.