Sigma rule: UAC Bypass Abusing Winsat Path Parsing - Process

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-73f29fdc7bfd, updated 2024-12-01T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
UAC Bypass Abusing Winsat Path Parsing - Process
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems)
Date
2021-08-30
Modified
2024-12-01
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_uac_bypass_winsat.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the pattern of UAC Bypass using a path parsing issue in winsat.exe (UACMe 52)

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    IntegrityLevel:
        - 'High'
        - 'System'
        - 'S-1-16-16384' # System
        - 'S-1-16-12288' # High
    ParentImage|endswith: '\AppData\Local\Temp\system32\winsat.exe'
    ParentCommandLine|contains: 'C:\Windows \system32\winsat.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.t1548.002

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/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_uac_bypass_winsat.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "UAC Bypass Abusing Winsat Path Parsing - Process" by Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_uac_bypass_winsat.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: UAC Bypass Abusing Winsat Path Parsing - Process",
entity page, dataset version ref-73f29fdc7bfd, updated 2024-12-01T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7a01183d-71a2-46ad-ad5c-acd989ac1793 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7a01183d-71a2-46ad-ad5c-acd989ac1793, 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.