Detection rules › YARA-L
New User Created Via Net.EXE
Identifies the creation of local users via the net.exe command
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1136.001 Create Account: Local Account |
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 new_user_created_via_net_exe {
meta:
author = "Endgame, JHasenbusch (adapted to Sigma for oscd.community)"
description = "Identifies the creation of local users via the net.exe command"
reference = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_net_user_add.yml"
license = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License/blob/main/LICENSE.Detection.Rules.md"
rule_name = "New User Created Via Net.EXE"
sigma_uuid = "cd219ff3-fa99-45d4-8380-a7d15116c6dc"
sigma_status = "test"
rule_id = "mr_c5c37a7b-d892-4592-a726-b0dbb45c1e55"
tactic = "TA0003"
technique = "T1136.001"
type = "Detection"
data_source = "Sysmon"
platform = "Windows"
severity = "Medium"
priority = "Medium"
false_positives = "Legitimate user creation. Better use event IDs for user creation rather than command line rules."
events:
$process.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
(
re.regex($process.target.process.file.full_path, `net(|1)\.exe$`) nocase or
$process.src.process.file.full_path = "net.exe" nocase or
$process.src.process.file.full_path = "net1.exe" nocase
)
(
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "user") and
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "add")
)
$process.principal.hostname = $hostname
match:
$hostname over 5m
outcome:
//example usage of specifying test user and hostname to adjust risk score
$risk_score = max(if($process.principal.user.userid = "user" and $process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
$principal_process_pid = array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
$principal_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
$principal_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
$principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
$principal_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
$target_process_pid = array_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
$target_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
$target_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
$target_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
$target_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_user_userid = array_distinct($process.principal.user.userid)
$log_type = array_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type))
condition:
$process
}
Detection logic
Fires when at least one $process event in the 5m window.
Events
$process
target.process.file.full_path matches "net(|1)\.exe$"src.process.file.full_path = "net.exe"src.process.file.full_path = "net1.exe"target.process.command_line contains "user"target.process.command_line contains "add"
Correlation
Outcome
Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.
| Field | Expression |
|---|---|
risk_score | max(if($process.principal.user.userid = "user" and $process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15)) |
principal_process_pid | array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid) |
principal_process_command_line | array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line) |
principal_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256) |
principal_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path) |
principal_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id) |
target_process_pid | array_distinct($process.target.process.pid) |
target_process_command_line | array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line) |
target_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256) |
target_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path) |
target_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_user_userid | array_distinct($process.principal.user.userid) |
log_type | array_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type)) |