Sigma rule: Whoami.EXE Execution From Privileged Process

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-dcc12428b5c1, updated 2023-12-04T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Whoami.EXE Execution From Privileged Process
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Teymur Kheirkhabarov
Date
2022-01-28
Modified
2023-12-04
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_whoami_execution_from_high_priv_process.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of "whoami.exe" by privileged accounts that are often abused by threat actors

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - OriginalFileName: 'whoami.exe'
    - Image|endswith: '\whoami.exe'
selection_user:
    User|contains:
        - 'AUTHORI'
        - 'AUTORI'
        - 'TrustedInstaller'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.discovery
  • attack.t1033

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

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/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_whoami_execution_from_high_priv_process.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Whoami.EXE Execution From Privileged Process" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Teymur Kheirkhabarov (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_whoami_execution_from_high_priv_process.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: Whoami.EXE Execution From Privileged Process",
entity page, dataset version ref-dcc12428b5c1, updated 2023-12-04T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/79ce34ca-af29-4d0e-b832-fc1b377020db (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 79ce34ca-af29-4d0e-b832-fc1b377020db, 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.