Sigma rule: Certificate Exported Via Certutil.EXE

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-3e7e63e38004, updated 2024-03-05T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Certificate Exported Via Certutil.EXE
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-02-15
Modified
2024-03-05
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_certutil_export_pfx.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of the certutil with the "exportPFX" flag which allows the utility to export certificates.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\certutil.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'CertUtil.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|windash: '-exportPFX '
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • There legitimate reasons to export certificates. Investigate the activity to determine if it's benign

Tags

  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1027

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_creation/proc_creation_win_certutil_export_pfx.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Certificate Exported Via Certutil.EXE" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_certutil_export_pfx.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: Certificate Exported Via Certutil.EXE",
entity page, dataset version ref-3e7e63e38004, updated 2024-03-05T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/3ffd6f51-e6c1-47b7-94b4-c1e61d4117c5 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 3ffd6f51-e6c1-47b7-94b4-c1e61d4117c5, 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.