Archive
038
EXH-0382026Fictional reconstruction

February KEV Pair

10 February 2026. CISA adds two related Microsoft protection-mechanism failures to the KEV catalog. Your proxy team already sees HTML smuggling attachments that match the CERT email template.

Type
Defensive / IR
Difficulty
Intermediate
Era
2020s
Time
10 min

Briefing

The attacker sends a payroll HTML attachment that opens an old MSHTML path and spawns Shell activity. You only see safe telemetry: mail gateway rows, process excerpts, proxy blocks, and host containment evidence.

Your role

SOC lead correlating email gateway telemetry with the KEV drop.

Objective

Trace the simulated campaign from payroll HTML lure to Shell/MSHTML process chain, then confirm isolation and build posture.

Terminal environment

user
responder
host
soc-bridge-01
cwd
/home/soc/feb-kev
steps
8
Enter the terminalAbout 10 minutesSafe simulation

Safety note. This is a safe reconstruction. All systems, files, hosts, credentials, and outputs are simulated. Do not use these techniques on systems you do not own or have explicit permission to test.