Sigma rule: Bypass UAC via Fodhelper.exe

Rule

Title

Bypass UAC via Fodhelper.exe

Status

test

Level

high

Author

E.M. Anhaus (originally from Atomic Blue Detections, Tony Lambert), oscd.community

Date

2019-10-24

Modified

2021-11-27

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_uac_bypass_fodhelper.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Identifies use of Fodhelper.exe to bypass User Account Control. Adversaries use this technique to execute privileged processes.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\fodhelper.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate use of fodhelper.exe utility by legitimate user

Tags

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

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1548.002

References

• https://eqllib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/analytics/e491ce22-792f-11e9-8f5c-d46d6d62a49e.html
• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1548.002/T1548.002.md

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_fodhelper.yml