Sigma rule: Squirrel Lolbin

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-09cf27066d8a, updated 2023-02-14T00:00:00.000Z.

SigmaHQ marks this rule as deprecated.

Rule

Title
Squirrel Lolbin
Status
deprecated
Level
medium
Author
Karneades / Markus Neis, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community
Date
2019/11/12
Modified
2023/02/14
File
deprecated/windows/proc_creation_win_susp_squirrel_lolbin.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects Possible Squirrel Packages Manager as Lolbin

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection1:
    Image|endswith: '\update.exe'
selection2:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--processStart'
        - '--processStartAndWait'
        - '--createShortcut'
filter_discord:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'C:\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe'
        - ' --processStart'
        - 'Discord.exe'
filter_github_desktop:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'C:\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\Update.exe'
        - 'GitHubDesktop.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--createShortcut'
        - '--processStartAndWait'
filter_teams:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'C:\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\Update.exe'
        - 'Teams.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--processStart'
        - '--createShortcut'
condition: all of selection* and not 1 of filter_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • 1Clipboard
  • Beaker Browser
  • Caret
  • Collectie
  • Discord
  • Figma
  • Flow
  • Ghost
  • GitHub Desktop
  • GitKraken
  • Hyper
  • Insomnia
  • JIBO
  • Kap
  • Kitematic
  • Now Desktop
  • Postman
  • PostmanCanary
  • Rambox
  • Simplenote
  • Skype
  • Slack
  • SourceTree
  • Stride
  • Svgsus
  • WebTorrent
  • WhatsApp
  • WordPress.com
  • Atom
  • Gitkraken
  • Slack
  • Teams

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.defense_evasion
  • attack.t1218

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

  • http://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2019/03/30/sqirrel-packages-manager-as-a-lolbin-a-k-a-many-electron-apps-are-lolbins-by-default/
  • http://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2018/08/16/squirrel-as-a-lolbin/

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/deprecated/windows/proc_creation_win_susp_squirrel_lolbin.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Squirrel Lolbin" by Karneades / Markus Neis, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/deprecated/windows/proc_creation_win_susp_squirrel_lolbin.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: Squirrel Lolbin",
entity page, dataset version ref-09cf27066d8a, updated 2023-02-14T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/fa4b21c9-0057-4493-b289-2556416ae4d7 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule fa4b21c9-0057-4493-b289-2556416ae4d7, 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.