Sigma rule: Suspicious GUP Usage

Rule

Title

Suspicious GUP Usage

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2019-02-06

Modified

2022-08-13

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_gup_suspicious_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of the Notepad++ updater in a suspicious directory, which is often used in DLL side-loading attacks

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\GUP.exe'
filter_programfiles:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\Program Files\Notepad++\updater\GUP.exe'
        - '\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\updater\GUP.exe'
filter_user:
    Image|contains: '\Users\'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\AppData\Local\Notepad++\updater\GUP.exe'
        - '\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\updater\GUP.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Execution of tools named GUP.exe and located in folders different than Notepad++\updater

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.persistence
• attack.execution
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1574.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1574.001

References

• https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2018/09/apt10-targeting-japanese-corporations-using-updated-ttps.html

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_gup_suspicious_execution.yml