Sigma rule: Potential Remote SquiblyTwo Technique Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-5c976e3b145a, updated 2026-01-24T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potential Remote SquiblyTwo Technique Execution
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Markus Neis, Florian Roth, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Date
2019-01-16
Modified
2026-01-24
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmic_squiblytwo_bypass.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential execution of the SquiblyTwo technique that leverages Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
to execute malicious code remotely. This technique bypasses application whitelisting by using wmic.exe to process
malicious XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) scripts that can contain embedded JScript or VBScript.
The attack typically works by fetching XSL content from a remote source (using HTTP/HTTPS) and executing it
with full trust privileges directly in memory, avoiding disk-based detection mechanisms. This is a common
LOLBin (Living Off The Land Binary) technique used for defense evasion and code execution.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_pe:
    - Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe'
    - Hashes|contains:  # Sysmon field hashes contains all types
          - 'IMPHASH=1B1A3F43BF37B5BFE60751F2EE2F326E'
          - 'IMPHASH=37777A96245A3C74EB217308F3546F4C'
          - 'IMPHASH=9D87C9D67CE724033C0B40CC4CA1B206'
          - 'IMPHASH=B12619881D79C3ACADF45E752A58554A'
          - 'IMPHASH=16A48C3CABF98A9DC1BF02C07FE1EA00'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains|windash: '/format:'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '://'
        - '\\\\'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1047
  • attack.t1220
  • attack.execution
  • attack.t1059.005
  • attack.t1059.007

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_wmic_squiblytwo_bypass.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potential Remote SquiblyTwo Technique Execution" by Markus Neis, Florian Roth, Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmic_squiblytwo_bypass.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: Potential Remote SquiblyTwo Technique Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-5c976e3b145a, updated 2026-01-24T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/8d63dadf-b91b-4187-87b6-34a1114577ea (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 8d63dadf-b91b-4187-87b6-34a1114577ea, 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.