Sigma rule: Potential Lateral Movement via Windows Remote Shell

Rule

Title

Potential Lateral Movement via Windows Remote Shell

Status

experimental

Level

medium

Author

Liran Ravich

Date

2025-10-22

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_winrshost_command_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a child process spawned by 'winrshost.exe', which suggests remote command execution through Windows Remote Shell (WinRs) and may indicate potential lateral movement activity.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    # Note: Example of command to simulate (winrm needs to be enabled): "c:\Windows\System32\winrs.exe" powershell
    ParentImage|endswith: '\winrshost.exe'
filter_main_conhost:
    Image: 'C:\Windows\System32\conhost.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate use of WinRM within the organization

Tags

• attack.lateral-movement
• attack.t1021.006

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1021.006

References

• https://cardinalops.com/blog/living-off-winrm-abusing-complexity-in-remote-management/
• https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/lateral-movement/winrs-for-lateral-movement

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_winrshost_command_execution.yml