Sigma rule: AddinUtil.EXE Execution From Uncommon Directory

Rule

Title

AddinUtil.EXE Execution From Uncommon Directory

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Michael McKinley (@McKinleyMike), Tony Latteri (@TheLatteri)

Date

2023-09-18

Modified

2025-02-24

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_addinutil_uncommon_dir_exec.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects execution of the Add-In deployment cache updating utility (AddInutil.exe) from a non-standard directory.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    - Image|endswith: '\addinutil.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'AddInUtil.exe'
filter_main_legit_location:
    Image|contains:
        - ':\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\'
        - ':\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\'
        - ':\Windows\Microsoft.NET\FrameworkArm\'
        - ':\Windows\Microsoft.NET\FrameworkArm64\'
        - ':\Windows\WinSxS\'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1218

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1218

References

• https://www.blue-prints.blog/content/blog/posts/lolbin/addinutil-lolbas.html

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_addinutil_uncommon_dir_exec.yml