Sigma rule: Suspicious New Service Creation

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-32a3d955095f, updated 2022-11-18T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious New Service Creation
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-07-14
Modified
2022-11-18
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_service_creation.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects creation of a new service via "sc" command or the powershell "new-service" cmdlet with suspicious binary paths

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_sc:
    Image|endswith: '\sc.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'create'
        - 'binPath='
selection_posh:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'New-Service'
        - '-BinaryPathName'
susp_binpath:
    CommandLine|contains:
        # Add more suspicious commands or binaries
        - 'powershell'
        - 'mshta'
        - 'wscript'
        - 'cscript'
        - 'svchost'
        - 'dllhost'
        - 'cmd '
        - 'cmd.exe /c'
        - 'cmd.exe /k'
        - 'cmd.exe /r'
        - 'rundll32'
        # Add more suspicious paths
        - 'C:\Users\Public'
        - '\Downloads\'
        - '\Desktop\'
        - '\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\'
        - 'C:\Windows\TEMP\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp'
condition: 1 of selection* and susp_binpath

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unlikely

Tags

  • attack.persistence
  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.t1543.003

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

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_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_service_creation.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious New Service Creation" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_service_creation.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 New Service Creation",
entity page, dataset version ref-32a3d955095f, updated 2022-11-18T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/17a1be64-8d88-40bf-b5ff-a4f7a50ebcc8 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 17a1be64-8d88-40bf-b5ff-a4f7a50ebcc8, 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.