Sigma rule: Elevated System Shell Spawned

Rule

Title

Elevated System Shell Spawned

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), frack113

Date

2023-11-23

Modified

2026-09-15

File

rules-threat-hunting/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_elevated_system_shell.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects when a shell program such as the Windows command prompt or PowerShell is launched with system privileges. Use this rule to hunt for potential suspicious processes.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_shell:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\powershell_ise.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
          - '\cmd.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'PowerShell.EXE'
          - 'powershell_ise.EXE'
          - 'pwsh.dll'
          - 'Cmd.Exe'
selection_user:
    User|contains: # covers many language settings
        - 'AUTHORI'
        - 'AUTORI'
    LogonId: '0x3e7'
filter_main_svchost:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\svchost.exe'
filter_main_silcollector:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
    ParentCommandLine: 'C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /d /c C:\Windows\system32\silcollector.cmd configure'
condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.execution
• attack.t1059
• detection.threat-hunting

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1059

Related rules

• 178e615d-e666-498b-9630-9ed363038101 (similar)

References

• https://github.com/Wh04m1001/SysmonEoP

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules-threat-hunting/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_elevated_system_shell.yml