Sigma rule: Potential Process Reconnaissance via Wmic.EXE

Rule

Title

Potential Process Reconnaissance via Wmic.EXE

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

frack113

Date

2022-01-01

Modified

2025-12-15

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmic_recon_process.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of "wmic" with the "process" flag, which might indicate an attempt to perform reconnaissance on running processes.
Adversaries may use wmic to query for running processes and their details as part of their reconnaissance efforts.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\WMIC.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains: 'process'
filter_main_creation:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        # Rule id 526be59f-a573-4eea-b5f7-f0973207634d for `wmic process call create #{process_to_execute}`
        - 'call'
        - 'create'
filter_main_terminate:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        # Rule id 49d9671b-0a0a-4c09-8280-d215bfd30662 for `wmic path win32_process where processid=#{processid_to_terminate} call terminate`
        - 'call'
        - 'terminate'
condition: all of selection* and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1047
• attack.discovery
• attack.t1057

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1047
• T1057

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1047/T1047.md
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/wmic

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_wmic_recon_process.yml