Sigma rule: Potential APT Mustang Panda Activity Against Australian Gov

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-dfa5f2a11470, updated 2023-05-15T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential APT Mustang Panda Activity Against Australian Gov
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-05-15
File
rules-emerging-threats/2023/TA/Mustang-Panda-Australia-Campaign/proc_creation_win_apt_mustang_panda_indicators.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects specific command line execution used by Mustang Panda in a targeted attack against the Australian government as reported by Lab52

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_1:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'copy SolidPDFCreator.dll'
        - 'C:\Users\Public\Libraries\PhotoTvRHD\SolidPDFCreator.dll'
selection_2:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'reg '
        - '\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
        - 'SolidPDF'
        - 'C:\Users\Public\Libraries\PhotoTvRHD\'
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unlikely

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.g0129
  • detection.emerging-threats

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

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-emerging-threats/2023/TA/Mustang-Panda-Australia-Campaign/proc_creation_win_apt_mustang_panda_indicators.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential APT Mustang Panda Activity Against Australian Gov" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules-emerging-threats/2023/TA/Mustang-Panda-Australia-Campaign/proc_creation_win_apt_mustang_panda_indicators.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 APT Mustang Panda Activity Against Australian Gov",
entity page, dataset version ref-dfa5f2a11470, updated 2023-05-15T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7806bb49-f653-48d3-a915-5115c1a85234 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7806bb49-f653-48d3-a915-5115c1a85234, 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.