Sigma rule: Potential PsExec Remote Execution

Rule

Title

Potential PsExec Remote Execution

Status

test

Level

high

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)

Date

2023-02-28

Modified

2025-09-01

File

rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_sysinternals_psexec_remote_execution.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential psexec command that initiate execution on a remote systems via common commandline flags used by the utility

Log source

product

windows

category

process_creation

Detection

selection:
    # Accepting EULA in commandline - often used in automated attacks
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'accepteula'
        - ' -u '
        - ' -p '
        - ' \\\\'
filter_main_localhost:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '\\\\localhost'
        - '\\\\127.'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Unknown

Tags

• attack.resource-development
• attack.t1587.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1587.001

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec
• https://www.poweradmin.com/paexec/
• https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/10/kegtap-and-singlemalt-with-a-ransomware-chaser.html

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_sysinternals_psexec_remote_execution.yml