Detection rules › YARA-L
Purple Knight Tool Execution Detected
This detection rule identifies the execution of the Purple Knight tool, a free Active Directory security assessment utility developed by Semperis. Purple Knight is designed to scan for AD vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and common attack paths. While it is a legitimate tool used by defenders, its execution in production environments may also indicate red team activity or unauthorized reconnaissance by adversaries attempting to map domain weaknesses.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Discovery | T1087 Account Discovery |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body yaral
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* Copyright 2025 Google LLC
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* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
rule hacktool_purpleknight_execution {
meta:
author = "Georg Lauenstein - suresecure GmbH"
description = "This detection rule identifies the execution of the Purple Knight tool, a free Active Directory security assessment utility developed by Semperis. Purple Knight is designed to scan for AD vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and common attack paths. While it is a legitimate tool used by defenders, its execution in production environments may also indicate red team activity or unauthorized reconnaissance by adversaries attempting to map domain weaknesses."
rule_id = "mr_69e428bb-c946-4e3f-abb8-0e28316f2389"
rule_name = "Purple Knight Tool Execution Detected"
tactic = "TA0007"
technique = "T1087"
references = "https://www.purple-knight.com/"
type = "alert"
platform = "Windows, EDR"
data_source = "Microsoft Sysmon, Windows Event Logs"
severity = "Medium" // Adjust based on your risk assessment
priority = "Medium" // Adjust based on your incident response process
events:
$purple_knight.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
(
$purple_knight.target.process.file.full_path = /\\PurpleKnight\.exe$/ nocase or
$purple_knight.principal.process.file.full_path = /\\PurpleKnight\.exe$/ nocase or
$purple_knight.principal.process.command_line = /PurpleKnight/ nocase
)
// Capture the hostname where the event occurred
$purple_knight.principal.hostname = $hostname
match:
$hostname over 10m
outcome:
$risk_score = max(65)
$event_count = count_distinct($purple_knight.metadata.id)
$principal_process_pid = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.pid)
$principal_process_command_line = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.command_line)
$principal_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.file.sha256)
$principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.file.full_path)
$principal_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_process_parent_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
$target_process_pid = array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.pid)
$target_process_command_line = array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.command_line)
$target_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.file.sha256)
$target_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.file.full_path)
$target_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_user_userid = array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.user.userid)
condition:
$purple_knight
}
Detection logic
Fires when at least one $purple_knight event in the 10m window.
Events
$purple_knight
target.process.file.full_path matches "\\PurpleKnight\.exe$"principal.process.file.full_path matches "\\PurpleKnight\.exe$"principal.process.command_line matches "PurpleKnight"
Correlation
Outcome
Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.
| Field | Expression |
|---|---|
risk_score | max(65) |
event_count | count_distinct($purple_knight.metadata.id) |
principal_process_pid | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.pid) |
principal_process_command_line | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.command_line) |
principal_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.file.sha256) |
principal_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.file.full_path) |
principal_process_product_specific_process_id | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_process_parent_process_product_specific_process_id | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id) |
target_process_pid | array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.pid) |
target_process_command_line | array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.command_line) |
target_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.file.sha256) |
target_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.file.full_path) |
target_process_product_specific_process_id | array_distinct($purple_knight.target.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_user_userid | array_distinct($purple_knight.principal.user.userid) |