Sigma rule: PUA - Process Hacker Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-2c00933369bd, updated 2024-11-23T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
PUA - Process Hacker Execution
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-10-10
Modified
2024-11-23
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_pua_process_hacker.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of Process Hacker based on binary metadata information (Image, Hash, Imphash, etc).
Process Hacker is a tool to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level options.
Threat actors abused older vulnerable versions to manipulate system processes.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    - Image|contains: '\ProcessHacker_'
    - Image|endswith: '\ProcessHacker.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'ProcessHacker.exe'
          - 'Process Hacker'
    - Description: 'Process Hacker'
    - Product: 'Process Hacker'
    - Hashes|contains:
          - 'MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D'
          - 'MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71'
          - 'SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D'
          - 'SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E'
          - 'SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F'
          - 'SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4'
          - 'IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462'
          - 'IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • While sometimes 'Process Hacker is used by legitimate administrators, the execution of Process Hacker must be investigated and allowed on a case by case basis

Tags

  • attack.discovery
  • attack.persistence
  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1622
  • attack.t1564
  • attack.t1543

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

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_pua_process_hacker.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "PUA - Process Hacker Execution" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_pua_process_hacker.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: PUA - Process Hacker Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-2c00933369bd, updated 2024-11-23T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/811e0002-b13b-4a15-9d00-a613fce66e42 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 811e0002-b13b-4a15-9d00-a613fce66e42, 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.