Sigma rule: HackTool - PCHunter Execution

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-effb149f2628, updated 2024-11-23T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
HackTool - PCHunter Execution
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali
Date
2022-10-10
Modified
2024-11-23
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_pchunter.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects suspicious use of PCHunter, a tool like Process Hacker to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level stuff

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_image:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\PCHunter64.exe'
        - '\PCHunter32.exe'
selection_pe:
    - OriginalFileName: 'PCHunter.exe'
    - Description: 'Epoolsoft Windows Information View Tools'
selection_hashes:
    Hashes|contains:
        - 'SHA1=5F1CBC3D99558307BC1250D084FA968521482025'
        - 'MD5=987B65CD9B9F4E9A1AFD8F8B48CF64A7'
        - 'SHA256=2B214BDDAAB130C274DE6204AF6DBA5AEEC7433DA99AA950022FA306421A6D32'
        - 'IMPHASH=444D210CEA1FF8112F256A4997EED7FF'
        - 'SHA1=3FB89787CB97D902780DA080545584D97FB1C2EB'
        - 'MD5=228DD0C2E6287547E26FFBD973A40F14'
        - 'SHA256=55F041BF4E78E9BFA6D4EE68BE40E496CE3A1353E1CA4306598589E19802522C'
        - 'IMPHASH=0479F44DF47CFA2EF1CCC4416A538663'
condition: 1 of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Unlikely

Tags

  • attack.execution
  • attack.discovery
  • attack.t1082
  • attack.t1057
  • attack.t1012
  • attack.t1083
  • attack.t1007

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_hktl_pchunter.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "HackTool - PCHunter Execution" by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_pchunter.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: HackTool - PCHunter Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-effb149f2628, updated 2024-11-23T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/fca949cc-79ca-446e-8064-01aa7e52ece5 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule fca949cc-79ca-446e-8064-01aa7e52ece5, 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.