Sigma rule: PUA - Potential PE Metadata Tamper Using Rcedit

Rule

Title

PUA - Potential PE Metadata Tamper Using Rcedit

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Micah Babinski

Date

2022-12-11

Modified

2023-03-05

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_pua_rcedit_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the use of rcedit to potentially alter executable PE metadata properties, which could conceal efforts to rename system utilities for defense evasion.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\rcedit-x64.exe'
          - '\rcedit-x86.exe'
    - Description: 'Edit resources of exe'
    - Product: 'rcedit'
selection_flags:
    CommandLine|contains: '--set-' # Covers multiple edit commands such as "--set-resource-string" or "--set-version-string"
selection_attributes:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'OriginalFileName'
        - 'CompanyName'
        - 'FileDescription'
        - 'ProductName'
        - 'ProductVersion'
        - 'LegalCopyright'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate use of the tool by administrators or users to update metadata of a binary

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1036.003
• attack.t1036
• attack.t1027.005
• attack.t1027

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1027
• T1027.005
• T1036
• T1036.003

References

• https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/210843/is-it-possible-to-change-original-filename-of-an-exe
• https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/02e8e8c5d430d8b768980f517b62d7792d690982b9ba0f7e04163cbc1a6e7915
• https://github.com/electron/rcedit

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_pua_rcedit_execution.yml