Sigma rule: Suspicious Printer Driver Empty Manufacturer

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-12a07d3c524e, updated 2023-08-17T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Printer Driver Empty Manufacturer
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date
2020-07-01
Modified
2023-08-17
File
rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_susp_printer_driver.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a suspicious printer driver installation with an empty Manufacturer value

Log source

product
windows
category
registry_set

Detection

selection:
    TargetObject|contains|all:
        - '\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers'
        - '\Manufacturer'
    Details: '(Empty)'
filter_cutepdf:
    TargetObject|contains: '\CutePDF Writer v4.0\'
filter_vnc:
    TargetObject|contains:
        - '\VNC Printer (PS)\'
        - '\VNC Printer (UD)\'
filter_pdf24:
    TargetObject|contains: '\Version-3\PDF24\'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Alerts on legitimate printer drivers that do not set any more details in the Manufacturer value

Tags

  • attack.persistence
  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.execution
  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1574
  • cve.2021-1675

CVEs this rule names

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

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/registry/registry_set/registry_set_susp_printer_driver.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Printer Driver Empty Manufacturer" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_susp_printer_driver.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 Printer Driver Empty Manufacturer",
entity page, dataset version ref-12a07d3c524e, updated 2023-08-17T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e0813366-0407-449a-9869-a2db1119dc41 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e0813366-0407-449a-9869-a2db1119dc41, 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.