Sigma Rules
1,585 rules found for "defense-evasion"
Potentially Suspicious Child Processes Spawned by ConHost
Detects suspicious child processes related to Windows Shell utilities spawned by `conhost.exe`, which could indicate malicious activity using trusted system components.
Control Panel Items
Detects the malicious use of a control panel item
New DMSA Service Account Created in Specific OUs
Detects the creation of a dMSASvc account using the New-ADServiceAccount cmdlet in certain OUs. The fact that the Cmdlet is used to create a dMSASvc account in a specific OU is highly suspicious. It is a pattern trying to exploit the BadSuccessor privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows Server 2025. On top of that, if the user that is creating the dMSASvc account is not a legitimate administrator or does not have the necessary permissions, it is a strong signal of an attempted or successful abuse of the BaDSuccessor vulnerability for privilege escalation within the Windows Server 2025 Active Directory environment.
CreateDump Process Dump
Detects uses of the createdump.exe LOLOBIN utility to dump process memory
Windows Credential Guard Registry Tampering Via CommandLine
Detects attempts to add, modify, or delete Windows Credential Guard related registry keys or values via command line tools such as Reg.exe or PowerShell. Credential Guard uses virtualization-based security to isolate secrets so that only privileged system software can access them. Adversaries may disable Credential Guard to gain access to sensitive credentials stored in the system, such as NTLM hashes and Kerberos tickets, which can be used for lateral movement and privilege escalation. The rule matches suspicious command lines that target DeviceGuard or LSA registry paths and manipulate keys like EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity, RequirePlatformSecurityFeatures, or LsaCfgFlags. Such activity may indicate an attempt to disable or tamper with Credential Guard, potentially exposing sensitive credentials for misuse.
Dynamic .NET Compilation Via Csc.EXE
Detects execution of "csc.exe" to compile .NET code. Attackers often leverage this to compile code on the fly and use it in other stages.
Csc.EXE Execution Form Potentially Suspicious Parent
Detects a potentially suspicious parent of "csc.exe", which could be a sign of payload delivery.
Suspicious Csi.exe Usage
Csi.exe is a signed binary from Microsoft that comes with Visual Studio and provides C# interactive capabilities. It can be used to run C# code from a file passed as a parameter in command line. Early version of this utility provided with Microsoft “Roslyn” Community Technology Preview was named 'rcsi.exe'
Suspicious Use of CSharp Interactive Console
Detects the execution of CSharp interactive console by PowerShell
Suspicious CustomShellHost Execution
Detects the execution of CustomShellHost.exe where the child isn't located in 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'. CustomShellHost is a known LOLBin that can be abused by attackers for defense evasion techniques.
ManageEngine Endpoint Central Dctask64.EXE Potential Abuse
Detects the execution of "dctask64.exe", a signed binary by ZOHO Corporation part of ManageEngine Endpoint Central. This binary can be abused for DLL injection, arbitrary command and process execution.
Uncommon Child Process Of Defaultpack.EXE
Detects uncommon child processes of "DefaultPack.EXE" binary as a proxy to launch other programs
PowerShell Defender Threat Severity Default Action Set to 'Allow' or 'NoAction'
Detects the use of PowerShell to execute the 'Set-MpPreference' cmdlet to configure Windows Defender's threat severity default action to 'Allow' (value '6') or 'NoAction' (value '9'). This is a highly suspicious configuration change that effectively disables Defender's ability to automatically mitigate threats of a certain severity level. An attacker might use this technique via the command line to bypass defenses before executing payloads.
Windows Defender Context Menu Removed
Detects the use of reg.exe or PowerShell to delete the Windows Defender context menu handler registry keys. This action removes the "Scan with Microsoft Defender" option from the right-click menu for files, directories, and drives. Attackers may use this technique to hinder manual, on-demand scans and reduce the visibility of the security product.
Devcon Execution Disabling VMware VMCI Device
Detects execution of devcon.exe with commands that disable the VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) device. This can be legitimate during VMware Tools troubleshooting or driver conflicts, but may also indicate malware attempting to hijack communication with the hardware via the VMCI device. This has been used to facilitate VMware ESXi vulnerability exploits to escape VMs and execute code on the ESXi host.
DeviceCredentialDeployment Execution
Detects the execution of DeviceCredentialDeployment to hide a process from view.
Potential DLL Sideloading Via DeviceEnroller.EXE
Detects the use of the PhoneDeepLink parameter to potentially sideload a DLL file that does not exist. This non-existent DLL file is named "ShellChromeAPI.dll". Adversaries can drop their own renamed DLL and execute it via DeviceEnroller.exe using this parameter
Arbitrary MSI Download Via Devinit.EXE
Detects a certain command line flag combination used by "devinit.exe", which can be abused as a LOLBIN to download arbitrary MSI packages on a Windows system
Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of ClickOnce Application
Detects potentially suspicious child processes of a ClickOnce deployment application
Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE
Detects potentially suspicious child processes of "Diskshadow.exe". This could be an attempt to bypass parent/child relationship detection or application whitelisting rules.
Diskshadow Script Mode - Uncommon Script Extension Execution
Detects execution of "Diskshadow.exe" in script mode to execute an script with a potentially uncommon extension. Initial baselining of the allowed extension list is required.
Diskshadow Script Mode - Execution From Potential Suspicious Location
Detects execution of "Diskshadow.exe" in script mode using the "/s" flag where the script is located in a potentially suspicious location.
PowerShell Web Access Feature Enabled Via DISM
Detects the use of DISM to enable the PowerShell Web Access feature, which could be used for remote access and potential abuse
Dism Remove Online Package
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool. DISM is used to enumerate, install, uninstall, configure, and update features and packages in Windows images
DLL Sideloading by VMware Xfer Utility
Detects execution of VMware Xfer utility (VMwareXferlogs.exe) from the non-default directory which may be an attempt to sideload arbitrary DLL
Dllhost.EXE Execution Anomaly
Detects a "dllhost" process spawning with no commandline arguments which is very rare to happen and could indicate process injection activity or malware mimicking similar system processes.
New DNS ServerLevelPluginDll Installed Via Dnscmd.EXE
Detects the installation of a DNS plugin DLL via ServerLevelPluginDll parameter in registry, which can be used to execute code in context of the DNS server (restart required)
Potential Application Whitelisting Bypass via Dnx.EXE
Detects the execution of Dnx.EXE. The Dnx utility allows for the execution of C# code. Attackers might abuse this in order to bypass application whitelisting.
Arbitrary DLL or Csproj Code Execution Via Dotnet.EXE
Detects execution of arbitrary DLLs or unsigned code via a ".csproj" files via Dotnet.EXE.
Binary Proxy Execution Via Dotnet-Trace.EXE
Detects commandline arguments for executing a child process via dotnet-trace.exe
Process Memory Dump Via Dotnet-Dump
Detects the execution of "dotnet-dump" with the "collect" flag. The execution could indicate potential process dumping of critical processes such as LSASS.
Potentially Over Permissive Permissions Granted Using Dsacls.EXE
Detects usage of Dsacls to grant over permissive permissions
Potential Password Spraying Attempt Using Dsacls.EXE
Detects possible password spraying attempts using Dsacls
DumpMinitool Execution
Detects the use of "DumpMinitool.exe" a tool that allows the dump of process memory via the use of the "MiniDumpWriteDump"
Suspicious DumpMinitool Execution
Detects suspicious ways to use the "DumpMinitool.exe" binary
New Capture Session Launched Via DXCap.EXE
Detects the execution of "DXCap.EXE" with the "-c" flag, which allows a user to launch any arbitrary binary or windows package through DXCap itself. This can be abused to potentially bypass application whitelisting.
Security Event Logging Disabled via MiniNt Registry Key - Process
Detects attempts to disable security event logging by adding the `MiniNt` registry key. This key is used to disable the Windows Event Log service, which collects and stores event logs from the operating system and applications. Adversaries may want to disable this service to prevent logging of security events that could be used to detect their activities.
Potentially Suspicious Event Viewer Child Process
Detects uncommon or suspicious child processes of "eventvwr.exe" which might indicate a UAC bypass attempt
Potentially Suspicious Cabinet File Expansion
Detects the expansion or decompression of cabinet files from potentially suspicious or uncommon locations, e.g. seen in Iranian MeteorExpress related attacks
Explorer Process Tree Break
Detects a command line process that uses explorer.exe to launch arbitrary commands or binaries, which is similar to cmd.exe /c, only it breaks the process tree and makes its parent a new instance of explorer spawning from "svchost"
Explorer NOUACCHECK Flag
Detects suspicious starts of explorer.exe that use the /NOUACCHECK flag that allows to run all sub processes of that newly started explorer.exe without any UAC checks
Remote File Download Via Findstr.EXE
Detects execution of "findstr" with specific flags and a remote share path. This specific set of CLI flags would allow "findstr" to download the content of the file located on the remote share as described in the LOLBAS entry.
Findstr Launching .lnk File
Detects usage of findstr to identify and execute a lnk file as seen within the HHS redirect attack
Insensitive Subfolder Search Via Findstr.EXE
Detects execution of findstr with the "s" and "i" flags for a "subfolder" and "insensitive" search respectively. Attackers sometimes leverage this built-in utility to search the system for interesting files or filter through results of commands.
Filter Driver Unloaded Via Fltmc.EXE
Detect filter driver unloading activity via fltmc.exe
Sysmon Driver Unloaded Via Fltmc.EXE
Detects possible Sysmon filter driver unloaded via fltmc.exe
Forfiles.EXE Child Process Masquerading
Detects the execution of "forfiles" from a non-default location, in order to potentially spawn a custom "cmd.exe" from the current working directory.
Uncommon FileSystem Load Attempt By Format.com
Detects the execution of format.com with an uncommon filesystem selection that could indicate a defense evasion activity in which "format.com" is used to load malicious DLL files or other programs.