Sigma rule: Renamed Powershell Under Powershell Channel

Rule

Title

Renamed Powershell Under Powershell Channel

Status

test

Level

low

Author

Harish Segar, frack113

Date

2020-06-29

Modified

2025-01-20

File

rules/windows/powershell/powershell_classic/posh_pc_renamed_powershell.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a renamed Powershell execution, which is a common technique used to circumvent security controls and bypass detection logic that's dependent on process names and process paths.

Log source

product

windows

category

ps_classic_start

Detection

selection:
    Data|contains: 'HostName=ConsoleHost'
# Note: Powershell Logging Data is localized. Meaning that "HostApplication" field will be translated to a different field on a non english layout. This rule doesn't take this into account due to the sheer amount of possibilities. It's up to the user to add these cases.
filter_main_ps:
    Data|contains:
        - 'HostApplication=powershell'
        - 'HostApplication=C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell'
        - 'HostApplication=C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell'
        # In some cases powershell was invoked with inverted slashes
        - 'HostApplication=C:/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell'
        - 'HostApplication=C:/Windows/SysWOW64/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell'
        - 'HostApplication=C:\\\\WINDOWS\\\\system32\\\\WindowsPowerShell\\\\v1.0\\\\powershell.exe'
        - 'HostApplication=C:\\\\WINDOWS\\\\SysWOW64\\\\WindowsPowerShell\\\\v1.0\\\\powershell.exe'
filter_main_host_application_null:
    # Note: Since we're using the raw data field to match. There is no easy way to filter out cases where the "HostApplication" field is null (i.e doesn't exist). We're practically forced to use a regex.
    # If you're already mapping and extracting the field, then obviously use that directly.
    Data|re: 'HostId=[a-zA-Z0-9-]{36}\s+EngineVersion='
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1059.001
• attack.t1036.003

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1036.003
• T1059.001

References

• https://speakerdeck.com/heirhabarov/hunting-for-powershell-abuse

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/powershell/powershell_classic/posh_pc_renamed_powershell.yml