Sigma rule: Suspicious Schtasks Execution AppData Folder

Rule

Title

Suspicious Schtasks Execution AppData Folder

Status

test

Level

high

Author

pH-T (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2022-03-15

Modified

2022-07-28

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_schtasks_appdata_local_system.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the creation of a schtask that executes a file from C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\schtasks.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - '/Create'
        - '/RU'
        - '/TR'
        - 'C:\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'NT AUT' # This covers the usual NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
        - ' SYSTEM ' # SYSTEM is a valid value for schtasks hence it gets it's own value with space
filter:
    # FP from test set in SIGMA
    ParentImage|contains|all:
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
        - 'TeamViewer_.exe'
    Image|endswith: '\schtasks.exe'
    CommandLine|contains: '/TN TVInstallRestore'
condition: selection and not filter

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.execution
• attack.persistence
• attack.t1053.005
• attack.t1059.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1053.005
• T1059.001

References

• https://thedfirreport.com/2022/02/21/qbot-and-zerologon-lead-to-full-domain-compromise/

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_schtasks_appdata_local_system.yml