Sigma rule: Password Set to Never Expire via WMI

Rule

Title

Password Set to Never Expire via WMI

Status

experimental

Level

medium

Author

Daniel Koifman (KoifSec)

Date

2025-07-30

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmi_password_never_expire.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the use of wmic.exe to modify user account settings and explicitly disable password expiration.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:   # Example command simulated:  wmic  useraccount where name='guest' set passwordexpires=false
    - Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'useraccount'
        - ' set '
        - 'passwordexpires'
        - 'false'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate administrative activity

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.execution
• attack.persistence
• attack.t1047
• attack.t1098

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1047
• T1098

References

• https://www.huntress.com/blog/the-unwanted-guest

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_wmi_password_never_expire.yml