Sigma rule: Suspicious HH.EXE Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-8e3bcdbbda97, updated 2023-04-12T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious HH.EXE Execution
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Maxim Pavlunin
Date
2020-04-01
Modified
2023-04-12
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hh_susp_execution.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects a suspicious execution of a Microsoft HTML Help (HH.exe)

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - OriginalFileName: 'HH.exe'
    - Image|endswith: '\hh.exe'
selection_paths:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '.application'
        - '\AppData\Local\Temp\'
        - '\Content.Outlook\'
        - '\Downloads\'
        - '\Users\Public\'
        - '\Windows\Temp\'
        # - '\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp?_'
        # - '\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar$'
        # - '\AppData\Local\Temp\7z'
        # - '\AppData\Local\Temp\wz'
        # - '\AppData\Local\Temp\peazip-tmp'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.initial-access
  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1047
  • attack.t1059.001
  • attack.t1059.003
  • attack.t1059.005
  • attack.t1059.007
  • attack.t1218
  • attack.t1218.001
  • attack.t1218.010
  • attack.t1218.011
  • attack.t1566
  • attack.t1566.001

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/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hh_susp_execution.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious HH.EXE Execution" by Maxim Pavlunin (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hh_susp_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 HH.EXE Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-8e3bcdbbda97, updated 2023-04-12T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e8a95b5e-c891-46e2-b33a-93937d3abc31 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e8a95b5e-c891-46e2-b33a-93937d3abc31, 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.