HackTool - winPEAS Execution

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: Georg Lauenstein (sure[secure])
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

WinPEAS is a script that search for possible paths to escalate privileges on Windows hosts. The checks are explained on book.hacktricks.xyz

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Discovery	`T1046` Network Service Discovery, `T1082` System Information Discovery, `T1087` Account Discovery

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: HackTool - winPEAS Execution
id: 98b53e78-ebaf-46f8-be06-421aafd176d9
status: test
description: WinPEAS is a script that search for possible paths to escalate privileges on Windows hosts. The checks are explained on book.hacktricks.xyz
references:
    - https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng
    - https://book.hacktricks.xyz/windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation
author: Georg Lauenstein (sure[secure])
date: 2022-09-19
modified: 2023-03-23
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.t1082
    - attack.t1087
    - attack.t1046
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - OriginalFileName: 'winPEAS.exe'
        - Image|endswith:
              - '\winPEASany_ofs.exe'
              - '\winPEASany.exe'
              - '\winPEASx64_ofs.exe'
              - '\winPEASx64.exe'
              - '\winPEASx86_ofs.exe'
              - '\winPEASx86.exe'
    selection_cli_option:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' applicationsinfo' # Search installed applications information
            - ' browserinfo' # Search browser information
            - ' eventsinfo' # Display interesting events information
            - ' fileanalysis' # Search specific files that can contains credentials and for regexes inside files
            - ' filesinfo' # Search generic files that can contains credentials
            - ' processinfo' # Search processes information
            - ' servicesinfo' # Search services information
            - ' windowscreds' # Search windows credentials
    selection_cli_dl:
        CommandLine|contains: 'https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/releases/latest/download/'
    selection_cli_specific:
        - ParentCommandLine|endswith: ' -linpeas'
        - CommandLine|endswith: ' -linpeas'
    condition: 1 of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_*

Stage 1: `selection_img`

selection_img:
    - OriginalFileName: 'winPEAS.exe'
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\winPEASany_ofs.exe'
          - '\winPEASany.exe'
          - '\winPEASx64_ofs.exe'
          - '\winPEASx64.exe'
          - '\winPEASx86_ofs.exe'
          - '\winPEASx86.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_cli_option`

selection_cli_option:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' applicationsinfo'
        - ' browserinfo'
        - ' eventsinfo'
        - ' fileanalysis'
        - ' filesinfo'
        - ' processinfo'
        - ' servicesinfo'
        - ' windowscreds'

Stage 3: `selection_cli_dl`

selection_cli_dl:
    CommandLine|contains: 'https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/releases/latest/download/'

Stage 4: `selection_cli_specific`

selection_cli_specific:
    - ParentCommandLine|endswith: ' -linpeas'
    - CommandLine|endswith: ' -linpeas'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`CommandLine`	ends_with	`-linpeas`
`CommandLine`	match	`applicationsinfo` `browserinfo` `eventsinfo` `fileanalysis` `filesinfo` `processinfo` `servicesinfo` `windowscreds` `https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/releases/latest/download/`
`Image`	ends_with	`\winPEASany.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\winPEASany_ofs.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\winPEASx64.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\winPEASx64_ofs.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\winPEASx86.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\winPEASx86_ofs.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`winPEAS.exe`
`ParentCommandLine`	ends_with	`-linpeas`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

HackTool - winPEAS Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_option`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_dl`

Stage 4: `selection_cli_specific`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

HackTool - winPEAS Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_img

Stage 2: selection_cli_option

Stage 3: selection_cli_dl

Stage 4: selection_cli_specific

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_option`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_dl`

Stage 4: `selection_cli_specific`