Sigma rule: Renamed Whoami Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-2c4c2c3a6daa, updated 2022-10-09T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Renamed Whoami Execution
Status: test
Level: critical
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
Date: 2021-08-12
Modified: 2022-10-09
File: rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_renamed_whoami.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects the execution of whoami that has been renamed to a different name to avoid detection

Log source

product: windows
category: process_creation

Detection

selection:
    OriginalFileName: 'whoami.exe'
filter:
    Image|endswith: '\whoami.exe'
condition: selection and not filter

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Unknown

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1033

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_renamed_whoami.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Renamed Whoami Execution" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_renamed_whoami.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: Renamed Whoami Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-2c4c2c3a6daa, updated 2022-10-09T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/f1086bf7-a0c4-4a37-9102-01e573caf4a0 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule f1086bf7-a0c4-4a37-9102-01e573caf4a0, 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.