Sigma rule: Remote Thread Creation In Mstsc.Exe From Suspicious Location

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-218f7175241b, updated 2024-01-22T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Remote Thread Creation In Mstsc.Exe From Suspicious Location
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Date
2023-07-28
Modified
2024-01-22
File
rules/windows/create_remote_thread/create_remote_thread_win_mstsc_susp_location.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects remote thread creation in the "mstsc.exe" process by a process located in a potentially suspicious location.
This technique is often used by attackers in order to hook some APIs used by DLLs loaded by "mstsc.exe" during RDP authentications in order to steal credentials.

Log source

product
windows
category
create_remote_thread

Detection

selection:
    TargetImage|endswith: '\mstsc.exe'
    SourceImage|contains:
        - ':\Temp\'
        - ':\Users\Public\'
        - ':\Windows\PerfLogs\'
        - ':\Windows\Tasks\'
        - ':\Windows\Temp\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.credential-access

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_mstsc_susp_location.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Remote Thread Creation In Mstsc.Exe From Suspicious Location" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/create_remote_thread/create_remote_thread_win_mstsc_susp_location.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 Mstsc.Exe From Suspicious Location",
entity page, dataset version ref-218f7175241b, updated 2024-01-22T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/c0aac16a-b1e7-4330-bab0-3c27bb4987c7 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule c0aac16a-b1e7-4330-bab0-3c27bb4987c7, 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.