Sigma rule: Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-0e0de91175f6, updated 2023-09-15T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-09-15
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_diskshadow_child_process_susp.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potentially suspicious child processes of "Diskshadow.exe". This could be an attempt to bypass parent/child relationship detection or application whitelisting rules.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\diskshadow.exe'
    Image|endswith:
        # Note: add or remove additional binaries according to your org needs
        - '\certutil.exe'
        - '\cscript.exe'
        - '\mshta.exe'
        - '\powershell.exe'
        - '\pwsh.exe'
        - '\regsvr32.exe'
        - '\rundll32.exe'
        - '\wscript.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • False postitve can occur in cases where admin scripts levreage the "exec" flag to execute applications

Tags

  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1218

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_diskshadow_child_process_susp.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_diskshadow_child_process_susp.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: Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE",
entity page, dataset version ref-0e0de91175f6, updated 2023-09-15T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/9f546b25-5f12-4c8d-8532-5893dcb1e4b8 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 9f546b25-5f12-4c8d-8532-5893dcb1e4b8, 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.