Sigma rule: Deny Service Access Using Security Descriptor Tampering Via Sc.EXE
A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-afc5757970ef, updated 2023-02-28T00:00:00.000Z.
Rule
- Title
- Deny Service Access Using Security Descriptor Tampering Via Sc.EXE
- Status
- test
- Level
- high
- Author
- Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community
- Date
- 2020-10-16
- Modified
- 2023-02-28
- File
- rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_sc_sdset_deny_service_access.yml
- Commit
- ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84
Detects suspicious DACL modifications to deny access to a service that affects critical trustees. This can be used to hide services or make them unstoppable.
Log source
- product
- windows
- category
- process_creation
Detection
selection_sc:
- Image|endswith: '\sc.exe'
- OriginalFileName: 'sc.exe'
selection_sdset:
CommandLine|contains|all:
- 'sdset'
- 'D;' # Deny Access
selection_trustee:
CommandLine|contains:
- ';IU' # Interactively logged-on user
- ';SU' # Service logon user
- ';BA' # Built-in administrators
- ';SY' # Local system
- ';WD' # Everyone
condition: all of selection_*False positives (as the rule lists them)
- Unknown
Tags
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.persistence
- attack.t1543.003
MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names
Related rules
References
- https://www.sans.org/blog/red-team-tactics-hiding-windows-services/
- https://itconnect.uw.edu/tools-services-support/it-systems-infrastructure/msinf/other-help/understanding-sddl-syntax/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthz/sid-strings
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_sc_sdset_deny_service_access.yml
Sources and licences
SigmaHQ
"Deny Service Access Using Security Descriptor Tampering Via Sc.EXE" by Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_sc_sdset_deny_service_access.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Cite this page
Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Deny Service Access Using Security Descriptor Tampering Via Sc.EXE",
entity page, dataset version ref-afc5757970ef, updated 2023-02-28T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/99cf1e02-00fb-4c0d-8375-563f978dfd37 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 99cf1e02-00fb-4c0d-8375-563f978dfd37, 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.