This hunt hypothesis targets adversaries deploying the specific Chinese hacktool IISPutScannesr.exe to establish persistence or conduct reconnaissance within web server environments. Proactively hunting for this artifact in Azure Sentinel is critical because its low severity classification may cause it to be overlooked by automated alerts, allowing threat actors to maintain a stealthy foothold before escalating their activities.
rule IISPutScannesr {
meta:
description = "Chinese Hacktool Set - file IISPutScannesr.exe"
author = "Florian Roth"
reference = "http://tools.zjqhr.com/"
date = "2015-06-13"
hash = "2dd8fee20df47fd4eed5a354817ce837752f6ae9"
strings:
$s1 = "yoda & M.o.D." ascii
$s2 = "-> come.to/f2f **************" fullword ascii
condition:
uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and filesize < 500KB and all of them
}
This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:
This rule contains 2 string patterns in its detection logic.
Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the Chinese Hacktool Set - file IISPutScannesr.exe detection rule, tailored for an enterprise environment:
Legacy Application Deployment via IIS Manager Console
IISPutScannesr.exe as a standard utility for scanning and optimizing IIS virtual directories, which is executed directly from an admin workstation connecting to the server.inetmgr.exe) or restrict the rule to only trigger when the file path is outside of C:\Program Files\IISPutScanner (e.g., exclude paths containing \Temp\, \Downloads\, or specific deployment folders like \Deployments\LegacyApp\).Automated Patch Management via SCCM/MECM
IISPutScannesr.exe is extracted from the content library and executed by the SMS Agent Host service (ccmexec.exe) on multiple endpoints simultaneously.ccmexec.exe or TaskScheduler.exe, combined with a filter for specific User Accounts (e.g., DOMAIN\SCCM-Service-Account or NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM).Third-Party Backup and Recovery Scans