Access Token Manipulation: Create Process with Token T1134.002
Tactics: Stealth, Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may create a new process with an existing token to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. Processes can be created with the token and resulting security context of another user using features such as CreateProcessWithTokenW and runas.
Events covered
8 catalog events are tagged with this technique by at least one rule.
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4624 | An account was successfully logged on. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4648 | A logon was attempted using explicit credentials. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4697 | A service was installed in the system. |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4703 | A user right was adjusted. |
| Defender-DeviceProcessEvents | any | Process activity (any) |
| Service-Control-Manager | Event ID 7045 | A service was installed in the system. |
Authoring guide
Patterns shared across the 18 rules above: which fields they filter on, what specific values they look for, and what they exclude. The catalog normalizes field names across vendors so Sigma's Image, Elastic's process.name, and Splunk's process_name collapse into one row. Each rule contributes at most once per row.
Fields filtered most (38 distinct)
The fields most rules look at when detecting this technique. The How column shows the operators authors use (eq, wildcard, regex_match, match) and how often each appears. Sample values are concrete examples to start from, not an exhaustive list.
Top indicator values (150 distinct)
Specific (field, operator, value) combinations the rules check for, ranked by how many rules under this technique use each one. The Corpus reach column counts how many rules across the entire catalog (any technique) check the same combination. High numbers point to widely-used indicators that are likely noisy on their own; combine them with another condition for useful signal. Blank means the combination is specific to rules under this technique. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that use it.
Exclusions (143 distinct)
Field/operator/value combinations excluded by rules under this technique (top-level not() clauses), sorted by how many rules exclude each. These are the false-positive paths the community has learned to filter out. A new rule that ignores the high-count entries here will likely fire on the same noisy paths. Click a value to expand the rules under this technique that exclude it.
Rules under this technique
Every rule in the catalog tagged with this technique, grouped by vendor. Click a rule title for its full predicates, exclusions, and indicators.
Sigma 9 rules
- Meterpreter or Cobalt Strike Getsystem Service Installation - Security
- Meterpreter or Cobalt Strike Getsystem Service Installation - System
- Potential Meterpreter/CobaltStrike Activity
- Privilege escalation via runas (command)
- Privilege escalation via RunasCS
- PUA - AdvancedRun Execution
- PUA - AdvancedRun Suspicious Execution
- RedSun - Conhost.exe Spawned by TieringEngineService.exe
- Suspicious Child Process Created as System
Elastic 6 rules
- Interactive Logon by an Unusual Process
- PowerShell Script with Token Impersonation Capabilities
- Privileges Elevation via Parent Process PID Spoofing
- Process Created with a Duplicated Token
- Process Created with an Elevated Token
- Process Creation via Secondary Logon