Sigma rule: Remote Thread Creation In Uncommon Target Image

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-c0f2b529c6ed, updated 2025-07-04T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Remote Thread Creation In Uncommon Target Image
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2022-03-16
Modified
2025-07-04
File
rules/windows/create_remote_thread/create_remote_thread_win_susp_uncommon_target_image.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects uncommon target processes for remote thread creation

Log source

product
windows
category
create_remote_thread

Detection

selection:
    TargetImage|endswith:
        - '\calc.exe'
        - '\calculator.exe'
        - '\mspaint.exe'
        - '\notepad.exe'
        - '\ping.exe'
        - '\sethc.exe'
        - '\spoolsv.exe'
        - '\wordpad.exe'
        - '\write.exe'
filter_main_csrss:
    SourceImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\csrss.exe'
filter_main_notepad:
    SourceImage:
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\explorer.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\OpenWith.exe'
    TargetImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe'
filter_main_sethc:
    SourceImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\AtBroker.exe'
    TargetImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\Sethc.exe'
filter_optional_aurora_1:
    StartFunction: 'EtwpNotificationThread'
filter_optional_aurora_2:
    SourceImage|contains: 'unknown process'
filter_optional_vmtoolsd:
    SourceImage: 'C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\vmtoolsd.exe'
    StartFunction: 'GetCommandLineW'
    TargetImage:
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe'
filter_optional_xerox_pjems:
    SourceImage: 'C:\Program Files\Xerox\XeroxPrintExperience\CommonFiles\XeroxPrintJobEventManagerService.exe'
    StartFunction: 'LoadLibraryW'
    TargetImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1055.003

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/create_remote_thread/create_remote_thread_win_susp_uncommon_target_image.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Remote Thread Creation In Uncommon Target Image" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/create_remote_thread/create_remote_thread_win_susp_uncommon_target_image.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: Remote Thread Creation In Uncommon Target Image",
entity page, dataset version ref-c0f2b529c6ed, updated 2025-07-04T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/a1a144b7-5c9b-4853-a559-2172be8d4a03 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule a1a144b7-5c9b-4853-a559-2172be8d4a03, 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.