Sigma rule: Suspicious Interactive PowerShell as SYSTEM

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-7c8cb2729c73, updated 2022-08-13T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Interactive PowerShell as SYSTEM
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2021-12-07
Modified
2022-08-13
File
rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_susp_system_interactive_powershell.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the creation of files that indicator an interactive use of PowerShell in the SYSTEM user context

Log source

product
windows
category
file_event

Detection

selection:
    TargetFilename:
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt'
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\StartupProfileData-Interactive'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Administrative activity
  • PowerShell scripts running as SYSTEM user

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.t1059.001

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/file/file_event/file_event_win_susp_system_interactive_powershell.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Interactive PowerShell as SYSTEM" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_susp_system_interactive_powershell.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: Suspicious Interactive PowerShell as SYSTEM",
entity page, dataset version ref-7c8cb2729c73, updated 2022-08-13T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/5b40a734-99b6-4b98-a1d0-1cea51a08ab2 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 5b40a734-99b6-4b98-a1d0-1cea51a08ab2, 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.