Sigma rule: Suspicious Sysmon as Execution Parent

Rule

Title

Suspicious Sysmon as Execution Parent

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tim Shelton (fp werfault)

Date

2022-11-10

Modified

2025-07-04

File

rules-emerging-threats/2022/Exploits/CVE-2022-41120/proc_creation_win_exploit_cve_2022_41120_sysmon_eop.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious process executions in which Sysmon itself is the parent of a process, which could be a sign of exploitation (e.g. CVE-2022-41120)

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\Sysmon.exe'
        - '\Sysmon64.exe'
filter_main_temp_sysmon:
    # C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\2\Sysmon.exe
    Image|startswith: 'C:\Users\'
    Image|contains: '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
    Image|endswith:
        - '\Sysmon.exe'
        - '\Sysmon64.exe'
filter_main_generic:
    Image|contains:
        - ':\Windows\Sysmon.exe'
        - ':\Windows\Sysmon64.exe'
        - ':\Windows\System32\conhost.exe'
        - ':\Windows\System32\WerFault.exe' # When Sysmon crashes
        - ':\Windows\System32\WerFaultSecure.exe' # When Sysmon crashes
        - ':\Windows\System32\wevtutil.exe'
        - ':\Windows\SysWOW64\wevtutil.exe'
filter_main_null:
    Image: null
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.t1068
• cve.2022-41120
• detection.emerging-threats

CVEs this rule names

• CVE-2022-41120

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1068

References

• https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2022-41120
• https://twitter.com/filip_dragovic/status/1590052248260055041
• https://twitter.com/filip_dragovic/status/1590104354727436290

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules-emerging-threats/2022/Exploits/CVE-2022-41120/proc_creation_win_exploit_cve_2022_41120_sysmon_eop.yml