Microsoft Exchange Server UM Writing Suspicious Files
Identifies suspicious files being written by the Microsoft Exchange Server Unified Messaging (UM) service. This activity has been observed exploiting CVE-2021-26858.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
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Detection requirements
- Platform
- ContainersESXiIaaSLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the 3 ATT&CK techniques it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Files generated during installation will generate a lot of noise, so the rule should only be enabled after the fact.
- This rule was tuned using the following baseline: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/CSS-Exchange/main/Security/Baselines/baseline_15.2.792.5.csv from Microsoft. Depending on version, consult https://github.com/microsoft/CSS-Exchange/tree/main/Security/Baselines to help determine normalcy.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/03/02/hafnium-targeting-exchange-servers | 3 |
| www.volexity.com/blog/2021/03/02/active-exploitation-of-microsoft-exchange-zero-day-vulnerabilities | 3 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 6cd1779c-560f-4b68-a8f1-11009b27fe63
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Microsoft Defender XDRData Source: SentinelOneData Source: SysmonDomain: EndpointNoise: LowOS: WindowsPerformance: NormalPlatform: WindowsProfile: RecommendedResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Event Correlation (EQL)Tactic: Initial AccessTactic: Lateral MovementThreat: Vulnerability ExploitThreat: Web ShellUse Case: Threat DetectionUse Case: VulnerabilityVuln: CVE-2021-26858
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3