Sigma rule: Potential SMB Relay Attack Tool Execution

Rule

Title

Potential SMB Relay Attack Tool Execution

Status

test

Level

critical

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2021-07-24

Modified

2023-02-14

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_relay_attacks_tools.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects different hacktools used for relay attacks on Windows for privilege escalation

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_pe:
    Image|contains:
        - 'PetitPotam'
        - 'RottenPotato'
        - 'HotPotato'
        - 'JuicyPotato'
        - '\just_dce_'
        - 'Juicy Potato'
        - '\temp\rot.exe'
        - '\Potato.exe'
        - '\SpoolSample.exe'
        - '\Responder.exe'
        - '\smbrelayx'
        - '\ntlmrelayx'
        - '\LocalPotato'
selection_script:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'Invoke-Tater'
        - ' smbrelay'
        - ' ntlmrelay'
        - 'cme smb '
        - ' /ntlm:NTLMhash '
        - 'Invoke-PetitPotam'
        - '.exe -t * -p '  # JuicyPotatoNG pattern https://github.com/antonioCoco/JuicyPotatoNG
selection_juicypotato_enum:  # appears when JuicyPotatoNG is used with -b
    CommandLine|contains: '.exe -c "{'
    CommandLine|endswith: '}" -z'
filter_hotpotatoes:  # known goodware https://hotpot.uvic.ca/
    Image|contains:
        - 'HotPotatoes6'
        - 'HotPotatoes7'
        - 'HotPotatoes ' # Covers the following: 'HotPotatoes 6', 'HotPotatoes 7', 'HotPotatoes Help', 'HotPotatoes Tutorial'
condition: 1 of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate files with these rare hacktool names

Tags

• attack.collection
• attack.execution
• attack.credential-access
• attack.t1557.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1557.001

References

• https://foxglovesecurity.com/2016/09/26/rotten-potato-privilege-escalation-from-service-accounts-to-system/
• https://pentestlab.blog/2017/04/13/hot-potato/
• https://github.com/ohpe/juicy-potato
• https://hunter2.gitbook.io/darthsidious/other/war-stories/domain-admin-in-30-minutes
• https://hunter2.gitbook.io/darthsidious/execution/responder-with-ntlm-relay-and-empire
• https://www.localpotato.com/

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_hktl_relay_attacks_tools.yml