Sigma rule: Stop Windows Service Via PowerShell Stop-Service

Rule

Title

Stop Windows Service Via PowerShell Stop-Service

Status

test

Level

low

Author

Jakob Weinzettl, oscd.community, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-03-05

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powershell_stop_service.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the stopping of a Windows service via the PowerShell Cmdlet "Stop-Service"

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection_sc_net_img:
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'PowerShell.EXE'
          - 'pwsh.dll'
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains: 'Stop-Service '
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• There are many legitimate reasons to stop a service. This rule isn't looking for any suspicious behaviour in particular. Filter legitimate activity accordingly

Tags

• attack.impact
• attack.t1489

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1489

Related rules

• eb87818d-db5d-49cc-a987-d5da331fbd90 (obsolete)

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/stop-service?view=powershell-7.4

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_stop_service.yml