Sigma rule: Potentially Suspicious CMD Shell Output Redirect

Rule

Title

Potentially Suspicious CMD Shell Output Redirect

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-07-12

Modified

2024-03-19

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_cmd_redirection_susp_folder.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects inline Windows shell commands redirecting output via the ">" symbol to a suspicious location.
This technique is sometimes used by malicious actors in order to redirect the output of reconnaissance commands such as "hostname" and "dir" to files for future exfiltration.

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\cmd.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'Cmd.Exe'
selection_cli_1:
    CommandLine|contains:
        # Note: Add more suspicious locations as you find them
        # Note: The space from the start is missing to cover append operations ">>"
        # Note: We use the "?" to account for both a single and a double quote
        # Note: If you want to account for more spaces which is still a valid bypass option. Use a regex with "\s"
        - '>?%APPDATA%\'
        - '>?%TEMP%\'
        - '>?%TMP%\'
        - '>?%USERPROFILE%\'
        - '>?C:\ProgramData\'
        - '>?C:\Temp\'
        - '>?C:\Users\Public\'
        - '>?C:\Windows\Temp\'
selection_cli_2:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' >'
        - '">'
        - "'>"
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'C:\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\'
condition: selection_img and 1 of selection_cli_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate admin or third party scripts used for diagnostic collection might generate some false positives

Tags

• attack.stealth
• attack.t1218

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1218

Related rules

• aa2efee7-34dd-446e-8a37-40790a66efd7 (derived)
• 4f4eaa9f-5ad4-410c-a4be-bc6132b0175a (similar)

References

• https://thedfirreport.com/2022/07/11/select-xmrig-from-sqlserver/

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_cmd_redirection_susp_folder.yml