Sigma rule: Root Certificate Installed From Susp Locations

Rule

Title

Root Certificate Installed From Susp Locations

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-09-09

Modified

2023-01-16

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powershell_import_cert_susp_locations.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Adversaries may install a root certificate on a compromised system to avoid warnings when connecting to adversary controlled web servers.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'Import-Certificate'
        - ' -FilePath '
        - 'Cert:\LocalMachine\Root'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
        - ':\Windows\TEMP\'
        - '\Desktop\'
        - '\Downloads\'
        - '\Perflogs\'
        - ':\Users\Public\'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unlikely

Tags

• attack.defense-impairment
• attack.t1553.004

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1553.004

References

• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/09/07/profiling-dev-0270-phosphorus-ransomware-operations/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/pki/import-certificate?view=windowsserver2022-ps

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_import_cert_susp_locations.yml