Sigma rule: Weak or Abused Passwords In CLI

Rule

Title

Weak or Abused Passwords In CLI

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-09-14

Modified

2024-02-23

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_susp_weak_or_abused_passwords.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects weak passwords or often abused passwords (seen used by threat actors) via the CLI.
An example would be a threat actor creating a new user via the net command and providing the password inline

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    CommandLine|contains:
        # Add more passwords
        - '123456789'
        - '123123qwE'
        - 'Asd123.aaaa'
        - 'Decryptme'
        - 'P@ssw0rd!'
        - 'Pass8080'
        - 'password123' # Also covers PASSWORD123123! as seen in https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/25/dev-0832-vice-society-opportunistic-ransomware-campaigns-impacting-us-education-sector/
        - 'test@202' # Covers multiple years
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate usage of the passwords by users via commandline (should be discouraged)
• Other currently unknown false positives

Tags

• attack.execution
• attack.stealth

References

• https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/espionage-asia-governments
• https://thedfirreport.com/2022/09/26/bumblebee-round-two/
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/25/dev-0832-vice-society-opportunistic-ransomware-campaigns-impacting-us-education-sector/
• https://www.huntress.com/blog/slashandgrab-screen-connect-post-exploitation-in-the-wild-cve-2024-1709-cve-2024-1708

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_susp_weak_or_abused_passwords.yml