| name | T1059.005_visual-basic |
| description | Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution. |
| category | input-validation |
| version | 18.1 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1059.005","execution","linux","macos","windows","sub-technique"] |
| technique_id | T1059.005 |
| tactic | execution |
| all_tactics | ["execution"] |
| platforms | ["Linux","macOS","Windows"] |
| mitre_url | https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/005 |
| tech_stack | ["linux","macos","windows"] |
| cwe_ids | ["CWE-94"] |
| chains_with | ["T1059","T1059.001","T1059.002","T1059.003","T1059.004","T1059.006","T1059.007","T1059.008","T1059.009","T1059.010","T1059.011","T1059.012","T1059.013"] |
| prerequisites | ["T1059"] |
| severity_boost | {"T1059":"Chain with T1059 for deeper attack path","T1059.001":"Chain with T1059.001 for deeper attack path","T1059.002":"Chain with T1059.002 for deeper attack path"} |
T1059.005 Visual Basic
Sub-technique of: T1059
High-Level Description
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution. VB is a programming language created by Microsoft with interoperability with many Windows technologies such as Component Object Model and the Native API through the Windows API. Although tagged as legacy with no planned future evolutions, VB is integrated and supported in the .NET Framework and cross-platform .NET Core.
Derivative languages based on VB have also been created, such as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and VBScript. VBA is an event-driven programming language built into Microsoft Office, as well as several third-party applications. VBA enables documents to contain macros used to automate the execution of tasks and other functionality on the host. VBScript is a default scripting language on Windows hosts and can also be used in place of JavaScript on HTML Application (HTA) webpages served to Internet Explorer (though most modern browsers do not come with VBScript support).
Adversaries may use VB payloads to execute malicious commands. Common malicious usage includes automating execution of behaviors with VBScript or embedding VBA content into Spearphishing Attachment payloads (which may also involve Mark-of-the-Web Bypass to enable execution).
Kill Chain Phase
Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows
What to Check
How to Test
Atomic Red Team Tests
The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:
Atomic Test 1: Visual Basic script execution to gather local computer information
Visual Basic execution test, execute vbscript via PowerShell.
When successful, system information will be written to $env:TEMP\T1059.005.out.txt.
Supported Platforms: windows
