Sigma rule: Suspicious Service DACL Modification Via Set-Service Cmdlet

Rule

Title

Suspicious Service DACL Modification Via Set-Service Cmdlet

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-10-18

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powershell_service_dacl_modification_set_service.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious DACL modifications via the "Set-Service" cmdlet using the "SecurityDescriptorSddl" flag (Only available with PowerShell 7) that can be used to hide services or make them unstopable

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\pwsh.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'pwsh.dll'
selection_sddl_flag:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '-SecurityDescriptorSddl '
        - '-sd '
selection_set_service:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'Set-Service '
        - 'D;;'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ';;;IU'
        - ';;;SU'
        - ';;;BA'
        - ';;;SY'
        - ';;;WD'
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

• T1543.003

Related rules

• 99cf1e02-00fb-4c0d-8375-563f978dfd37 (derived)

References

• https://www.sans.org/blog/red-team-tactics-hiding-windows-services/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/pt-br/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_powershell_service_dacl_modification_set_service.yml