Sigma rule: Suspicious Powercfg Execution To Change Lock Screen Timeout

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-d20badba48ce, updated 2022-11-18T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Suspicious Powercfg Execution To Change Lock Screen Timeout
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
frack113
Date
2022-11-18
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powercfg_execution.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious execution of 'Powercfg.exe' to change lock screen timeout

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_power:
    - Image|endswith: '\powercfg.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'PowerCfg.exe'
selection_standby:
    # powercfg.exe /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_VIDEO VIDEOCONLOCK
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - '/setacvalueindex '
          - 'SCHEME_CURRENT'
          - 'SUB_VIDEO'
          - 'VIDEOCONLOCK'
    # powercfg -change -standby-timeout-dc 3000
    # powercfg -change -standby-timeout-ac 3000
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - '-change '
          - '-standby-timeout-'
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unknown

Tags

  • attack.stealth

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_powercfg_execution.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Suspicious Powercfg Execution To Change Lock Screen Timeout" by frack113 (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_powercfg_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 Powercfg Execution To Change Lock Screen Timeout",
entity page, dataset version ref-d20badba48ce, updated 2022-11-18T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/f8d6a15e-4bc8-4c27-8e5d-2b10f0b73e5b (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule f8d6a15e-4bc8-4c27-8e5d-2b10f0b73e5b, 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.