Detection rules › Sigma

Windows Kernel Debugger Execution

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects execution of the Windows Kernel Debugger "kd.exe".

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Privilege EscalationNo specific technique
StealthNo specific technique

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: Windows Kernel Debugger Execution
id: 27ee9438-90dc-4bef-904b-d3ef927f5e7e
status: test
description: Detects execution of the Windows Kernel Debugger "kd.exe".
references:
    - Internal Research
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2023-05-15
modified: 2024-04-24
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.stealth
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        - Image|endswith: '\kd.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'kd.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Rare occasions of legitimate cases where kernel debugging is necessary in production. Investigation is required
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    - Image|endswith: '\kd.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'kd.exe'

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.

FieldKindValues
Imageends_with
  • \kd.exe
OriginalFileNameeq
  • kd.exe