Sigma rule: Potential WMI Lateral Movement WmiPrvSE Spawned PowerShell

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-6ac747f8e821, updated 2023-03-29T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential WMI Lateral Movement WmiPrvSE Spawned PowerShell
Status
stable
Level
medium
Author
Markus Neis @Karneades
Date
2019-04-03
Modified
2023-03-29
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmiprvse_spawns_powershell.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects Powershell as a child of the WmiPrvSE process. Which could be a sign of lateral movement via WMI.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_parent:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\WmiPrvSE.exe'
selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'PowerShell.EXE'
          - 'pwsh.dll'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • AppvClient
  • CCM
  • WinRM

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.t1047
  • attack.t1059.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

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/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmiprvse_spawns_powershell.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential WMI Lateral Movement WmiPrvSE Spawned PowerShell" by Markus Neis @Karneades (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmiprvse_spawns_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: Potential WMI Lateral Movement WmiPrvSE Spawned PowerShell",
entity page, dataset version ref-6ac747f8e821, updated 2023-03-29T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/692f0bec-83ba-4d04-af7e-e884a96059b6 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 692f0bec-83ba-4d04-af7e-e884a96059b6, 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.