Emerging Threathightest

Potential CVE-2026-33829 Exploitation - Windows Snipping Tool Remote File Path URI

Detects potential exploitation of CVE-2026-33829, a vulnerability in the Windows Snipping Tool URI handler (ms-screensketch:). An attacker can abuse the 'filePath' parameter to supply a UNC path or HTTP URL, causing SnippingTool.exe to initiate a connection to a remote resource. When a UNC path is used (e.g. \\attacker.com\share), this triggers an outbound NTLM authentication attempt, allowing the attacker to capture or relay the victim's Net-NTLMv2 hash. HTTP-based paths may result in remote file loading or server-side request forgery (SSRF)-style access. The URI can be delivered via a malicious hyperlink, phishing email, or web page.

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Launch
Samir Bousseaden, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)Created Tue Apr 287c3a5b1d-9e2f-4a8c-b5d7-1e0f3c6a9b2d2026
Emerging Threat
Active Threat

Developed to detect an active or emerging threat. Prioritize investigation of any alerts and correlate with threat intelligence.

Log Source
WindowsProcess Creation
ProductWindows← raw: windows
CategoryProcess Creation← raw: process_creation

Events generated when a new process is spawned on the system. Covers command-line arguments, parent/child relationships, and process metadata.

Detection Logic
Detection Logic1 selector
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\SnippingTool.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            # '\\\\'  = literal double backslash (UNC path start); '%5C' and '%%5C' are URL-encoded variations of the same backslash character
            - 'ms-screensketch:edit?&filePath=\\\\'
            - 'ms-screensketch:edit?&filePath=%%5C'
            - 'ms-screensketch:edit?&filePath=%5C'
            - 'ms-screensketch:edit?&filePath=http'
    condition: selection
False Positives
Unknown

False positive likelihood has not been assessed. Additional context may be needed during triage.

Testing & Validation

Regression Tests

by Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Positive Detection Test2 matchesevtx

Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon

MITRE ATT&CK

Other

detection.emerging-threatscve.2026-33829
Rule Metadata
Rule ID
7c3a5b1d-9e2f-4a8c-b5d7-1e0f3c6a9b2d
Status
test
Level
high
Type
Emerging Threat
Created
Tue Apr 28
Path
rules-emerging-threats/2026/Exploits/CVE-2026-33829/proc_creation_win_exploit_cve_2026_33829.yml
Raw Tags
attack.credential-accessattack.t1187detection.emerging-threatscve.2026-33829
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