Sigma rule: Portable Gpg.EXE Execution

Rule

Title

Portable Gpg.EXE Execution

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-08-06

Modified

2023-11-10

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_gpg4win_portable_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of "gpg.exe" from uncommon location. Often used by ransomware and loaders to decrypt/encrypt data.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\gpg.exe'
          - '\gpg2.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'gpg.exe'
    - Description: 'GnuPG’s OpenPGP tool'
filter_main_legit_location:
    Image|contains:
        - ':\Program Files (x86)\GNU\GnuPG\bin\'
        - ':\Program Files (x86)\GnuPG VS-Desktop\'
        - ':\Program Files (x86)\GnuPG\bin\'
        - ':\Program Files (x86)\Gpg4win\bin\'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Tags

• attack.impact
• attack.t1486

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1486

References

• https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/vn/threat-encyclopedia/malware/ransom.bat.zarlock.a
• https://securelist.com/locked-out/68960/
• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/c4097dc7ed14d7f7d08c89d148c4307097e8c294/atomics/T1486/T1486.md

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_gpg4win_portable_execution.yml