Sigma rule: Potentially Suspicious Execution From Parent Process In Public Folder

Rule

Title

Potentially Suspicious Execution From Parent Process In Public Folder

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-02-25

Modified

2024-07-12

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_execution_from_public_folder_as_parent.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a potentially suspicious execution of a parent process located in the "\Users\Public" folder executing a child process containing references to shell or scripting binaries and commandlines.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_parent:
    ParentImage|contains: ':\Users\Public\'
selection_child:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\bitsadmin.exe'
          - '\certutil.exe'
          - '\cmd.exe'
          - '\cscript.exe'
          - '\mshta.exe'
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
          - '\regsvr32.exe'
          - '\rundll32.exe'
          - '\wscript.exe'
    - CommandLine|contains:
          - 'bitsadmin'
          - 'certutil'
          - 'cscript'
          - 'mshta'
          - 'powershell'
          - 'regsvr32'
          - 'rundll32'
          - 'wscript'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.stealth
• attack.t1564
• attack.t1059

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1059
• T1564

References

• https://redcanary.com/blog/blackbyte-ransomware/

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_susp_execution_from_public_folder_as_parent.yml