Sigma rule: Hijack Legit RDP Session to Move Laterally

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-5e7fd6defab3, updated 2021-11-27T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Hijack Legit RDP Session to Move Laterally
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Samir Bousseaden
Date
2019-02-21
Modified
2021-11-27
File
rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_tsclient_filewrite_startup.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the usage of tsclient share to place a backdoor on the RDP source machine's startup folder

Log source

product
windows
category
file_event

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\mstsc.exe'
    TargetFilename|contains: '\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unlikely

Tags

  • attack.command-and-control
  • attack.t1219.002

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

  • Internal Research

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/file/file_event/file_event_win_tsclient_filewrite_startup.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Hijack Legit RDP Session to Move Laterally" by Samir Bousseaden (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_tsclient_filewrite_startup.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: Hijack Legit RDP Session to Move Laterally",
entity page, dataset version ref-5e7fd6defab3, updated 2021-11-27T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/52753ea4-b3a0-4365-910d-36cff487b789 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 52753ea4-b3a0-4365-910d-36cff487b789, 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.