Sigma rule: Suspicious Svchost Process Access

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-57357d63297b, updated 2023-01-30T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Svchost Process Access
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Tim Burrell
Date
2020-01-02
Modified
2023-01-30
File
rules/windows/process_access/proc_access_win_svchost_susp_access_request.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious access to the "svchost" process such as that used by Invoke-Phantom to kill the thread of the Windows event logging service.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_access

Detection

selection:
    TargetImage|endswith: ':\Windows\System32\svchost.exe'
    GrantedAccess: '0x1F3FFF'
    CallTrace|contains: 'UNKNOWN'
filter_main_msbuild:
    SourceImage|contains: ':\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\'
    SourceImage|endswith: '\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe'
    # Just to make sure it's "really" .NET :)
    CallTrace|contains:
        - 'Microsoft.Build.ni.dll'
        - 'System.ni.dll'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.defense-impairment
  • attack.t1685.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

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_access/proc_access_win_svchost_susp_access_request.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Svchost Process Access" by Tim Burrell (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_access/proc_access_win_svchost_susp_access_request.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Suspicious Svchost Process Access",
entity page, dataset version ref-57357d63297b, updated 2023-01-30T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/166e9c50-8cd9-44af-815d-d1f0c0e90dde (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 166e9c50-8cd9-44af-815d-d1f0c0e90dde, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.