Detection rules › Sigma
Windows Kernel Debugger Execution
Detects execution of the Windows Kernel Debugger "kd.exe".
Known false positives
- Rare occasions of legitimate cases where kernel debugging is necessary in production. Investigation is required
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Privilege Escalation | No specific technique |
| Stealth | No specific technique |
Telemetry coverage
| Provider | Record / event type |
|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1: Process creation |
Rule body
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
selectionStage 1: selection
selection:
- Image|endswith: '\kd.exe'
- OriginalFileName: 'kd.exe'
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
Image | ends_with |
| field:"Image" kind:ends_with value:"\kd.exe" |
OriginalFileName | eq |
| field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"kd.exe" |