Sigma rule: Abuse of Service Permissions to Hide Services Via Set-Service

Rule

Title

Abuse of Service Permissions to Hide Services Via Set-Service

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-10-17

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powershell_hide_services_via_set_service.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects usage of the "Set-Service" powershell cmdlet to configure a new SecurityDescriptor that allows a service to be hidden from other utilities such as "sc.exe", "Get-Service"...etc. (Works only in powershell 7)

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\pwsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'pwsh.dll'
selection_sddl:
    # Example would be: "D:(D;;DCLCWPDTSD;;;IU)(D;;DCLCWPDTSD;;;SU)(D;;DCLCWPDTSD;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;IU)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;SU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;WD)"
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'Set-Service '
        - 'DCLCWPDTSD'
selection_cmdlet:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '-SecurityDescriptorSddl '
        - '-sd '
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Rare intended use of hidden services

Tags

• attack.persistence
• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.execution
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1574.011

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1574.011

Related rules

• a537cfc3-4297-4789-92b5-345bfd845ad0 (derived)
• 953945c5-22fe-4a92-9f8a-a9edc1e522da (similar)

References

• https://twitter.com/Alh4zr3d/status/1580925761996828672
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/set-service?view=powershell-7.2

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_powershell_hide_services_via_set_service.yml