Sigma rule: Suspicious Driver Install by pnputil.exe

Rule

Title

Suspicious Driver Install by pnputil.exe

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Hai Vaknin @LuxNoBulIshit, Avihay eldad @aloneliassaf, Austin Songer @austinsonger

Date

2021-09-30

Modified

2022-10-09

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolbin_susp_driver_installed_by_pnputil.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects when a possible suspicious driver is being installed via pnputil.exe lolbin

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '-i'
        - '/install'
        - '-a'
        - '/add-driver'
        - '.inf'
    Image|endswith: '\pnputil.exe'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Pnputil.exe being used may be performed by a system administrator.
• Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment.
• Pnputil.exe being executed from unfamiliar users should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.persistence
• attack.t1547

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1547

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/devtest/pnputil-command-syntax
• https://strontic.github.io/xcyclopedia/library/pnputil.exe-60EDC5E6BDBAEE441F2E3AEACD0340D2.html

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_lolbin_susp_driver_installed_by_pnputil.yml