Sigma rule: HackTool - Windows Credential Editor (WCE) Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-7f33b88180a6, updated 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
HackTool - Windows Credential Editor (WCE) Execution
Status
test
Level
critical
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2019-12-31
Modified
2025-10-21
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_wce.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the use of Windows Credential Editor (WCE), a popular post-exploitation tool used to extract plaintext passwords, hash, PIN code and Kerberos tickets from memory.
It is often used by threat actors for credential dumping and lateral movement within compromised networks.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\WCE.exe'
        - '\WCE64.exe'
selection_hash:
    Hashes|contains:
        - 'IMPHASH=136F0A8572C058A96436C82E541E4C41'
        - 'IMPHASH=589657C64DDE88533186C39F82FA1F50'
        - 'IMPHASH=6BFE09EFCB4FFDE061EBDBAFC4DB84CF'
        - 'IMPHASH=7D490037BF450877E6D0287BDCFF8D2E'
        - 'IMPHASH=8AB93B061287C79F3088C5BC7E7D97ED'
        - 'IMPHASH=A53A02B997935FD8EEDCB5F7ABAB9B9F'
        - 'IMPHASH=BA434A7A729EEC20E136CA4C32D6C740'
        - 'IMPHASH=BD1D1547DA13C0FCB6C15E86217D5EB8'
        - 'IMPHASH=E96A73C7BF33A464C510EDE582318BF2'
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.credential-access
  • attack.t1003.001
  • attack.s0005

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_hktl_wce.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "HackTool - Windows Credential Editor (WCE) Execution" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_wce.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: HackTool - Windows Credential Editor (WCE) Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-7f33b88180a6, updated 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/7aa7009a-28b9-4344-8c1f-159489a390df (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 7aa7009a-28b9-4344-8c1f-159489a390df, 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.