Sigma rule: Suspicious Process Masquerading As SvcHost.EXE

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-41fdefb761d4, updated 2024-08-07T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Suspicious Process Masquerading As SvcHost.EXE
Status: test
Level: high
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel
Date: 2024-08-07
File: rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_svchost_masqueraded_execution.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a suspicious process that is masquerading as the legitimate "svchost.exe" by naming its binary "svchost.exe" and executing from an uncommon location.
Adversaries often disguise their malicious binaries by naming them after legitimate system processes like "svchost.exe" to evade detection.

Log source

product: windows
category: process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\svchost.exe'
filter_main_img_location:
    Image:
        - 'C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\svchost.exe'
filter_main_ofn:
    OriginalFileName: 'svchost.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Unlikely

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1036.005

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_svchost_masqueraded_execution.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Suspicious Process Masquerading As SvcHost.EXE" by Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_svchost_masqueraded_execution.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: Suspicious Process Masquerading As SvcHost.EXE",
entity page, dataset version ref-41fdefb761d4, updated 2024-08-07T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/be58d2e2-06c8-4f58-b666-b99f6dc3b6cd (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule be58d2e2-06c8-4f58-b666-b99f6dc3b6cd, 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.