Sigma rule: MSI Spawned Cmd and Powershell Spawned Processes

Rule

Title

MSI Spawned Cmd and Powershell Spawned Processes

Status

unsupported

Level

high

Author

Teymur Kheirkhabarov (idea), Mangatas Tondang (rule), oscd.community

Date

2020/10/13

File

unsupported/windows/sysmon_always_install_elevated_msi_spawned_cmd_and_powershell_spawned_processes.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

This rule looks for Windows Installer service (msiexec.exe) spawning command line and/or powershell that spawns other processes

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

definition

Works only if Enrich Sysmon events with additional information about process in ParentOfParentImage check enrichment section

Detection

parent_image:
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\cmd.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
parent_of_parent_image:
    ParentOfParentImage|contains|all:
        - '\Windows\Installer\'
        - 'msi'
    ParentOfParentImage|endswith:
        - 'tmp'
condition: parent_image and parent_of_parent_image

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.privilege_escalation
• attack.t1548.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1548.002

References

• https://image.slidesharecdn.com/kheirkhabarovoffzonefinal-181117201458/95/hunting-for-privilege-escalation-in-windows-environment-50-638.jpg
• https://www.slideshare.net/heirhabarov/hunting-for-privilege-escalation-in-windows-environment

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/unsupported/windows/sysmon_always_install_elevated_msi_spawned_cmd_and_powershell_spawned_processes.yml