Sigma rule: HackTool - Empire PowerShell Launch Parameters

Rule

Title

HackTool - Empire PowerShell Launch Parameters

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Date

2019-04-20

Modified

2023-02-21

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_empire_powershell_launch.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious powershell command line parameters used in Empire

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' -NoP -sta -NonI -W Hidden -Enc '
        - ' -noP -sta -w 1 -enc '
        - ' -NoP -NonI -W Hidden -enc '
        - ' -noP -sta -w 1 -enc'
        - ' -enc  SQB'
        - ' -nop -exec bypass -EncodedCommand '
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Other tools that incidentally use the same command line parameters

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.t1059.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1059.001

References

• https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/c2ba61ca8d2031dad0cfc1d5770ba723e8b710db/lib/common/helpers.py#L165
• https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/e37fb2eef8ff8f5a0a689f1589f424906fe13055/lib/modules/powershell/persistence/powerbreach/deaduser.py#L191
• https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/e37fb2eef8ff8f5a0a689f1589f424906fe13055/lib/modules/powershell/persistence/powerbreach/resolver.py#L178
• https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire/blob/e37fb2eef8ff8f5a0a689f1589f424906fe13055/data/module_source/privesc/Invoke-EventVwrBypass.ps1#L64

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_hktl_empire_powershell_launch.yml