Sigma rule: Service Reconnaissance Via Wmic.EXE

Rule

Title

Service Reconnaissance Via Wmic.EXE

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-02-14

Modified

2026-01-07

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmic_recon_service.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

An adversary might use WMI to check if a certain remote service is running on a remote device.
When the test completes, a service information will be displayed on the screen if it exists.
A common feedback message is that "No instance(s) Available" if the service queried is not running.
A common error message is "Node - (provided IP or default) ERROR Description =The RPC server is unavailable" if the provided remote host is unreachable

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\WMIC.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains: 'service'
filter_main_manipulation:
    # Duplicate with 0b7163dc-7eee-4960-af17-c0cd517f92da
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'stopservice'
        - 'startservice'
filter_main_win32_methods:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'Change'
        - 'Create'
        - 'Delete'
        - 'PauseService'
        - 'ResumeService'
        - 'SetSecurityDescriptor'
        - 'StartService'
        - 'StopService'
        - 'UserControlService'
condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1047

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1047

Related rules

• 68bcd73b-37ef-49cb-95fc-edc809730be6 (similar)

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1047/T1047.md
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/wmic
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/cimwin32prov/win32-service

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_wmic_recon_service.yml