PUA - Process Hacker Execution

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

Detects the execution of Process Hacker based on binary metadata information (Image, Hash, Imphash, etc). Process Hacker is a tool to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level options. Threat actors abused older vulnerable versions to manipulate system processes.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1543` Create or Modify System Process
Privilege Escalation	`T1543` Create or Modify System Process
Stealth	`T1564` Hide Artifacts, `T1622` Debugger Evasion
Discovery	`T1622` Debugger Evasion

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: PUA - Process Hacker Execution
id: 811e0002-b13b-4a15-9d00-a613fce66e42
related:
    - id: 5722dff1-4bdd-4949-86ab-fbaf707e767a
      type: similar
status: test
description: |
    Detects the execution of Process Hacker based on binary metadata information (Image, Hash, Imphash, etc).
    Process Hacker is a tool to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level options.
    Threat actors abused older vulnerable versions to manipulate system processes.
references:
    - https://processhacker.sourceforge.io/
    - https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/falcon-overwatch-report-finds-increase-in-ecrime/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-10-10
modified: 2024-11-23
tags:
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1622
    - attack.t1564
    - attack.t1543
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        - Image|contains: '\ProcessHacker_'
        - Image|endswith: '\ProcessHacker.exe'
        - OriginalFileName:
              - 'ProcessHacker.exe'
              - 'Process Hacker'
        - Description: 'Process Hacker'
        - Product: 'Process Hacker'
        - Hashes|contains:
              - 'MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D'
              - 'MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71'
              - 'SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D'
              - 'SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E'
              - 'SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F'
              - 'SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4'
              - 'IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462'
              - 'IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - While sometimes 'Process Hacker is used by legitimate administrators, the execution of Process Hacker must be investigated and allowed on a case by case basis
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    - Image|contains: '\ProcessHacker_'
    - Image|endswith: '\ProcessHacker.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'ProcessHacker.exe'
          - 'Process Hacker'
    - Description: 'Process Hacker'
    - Product: 'Process Hacker'
    - Hashes|contains:
          - 'MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D'
          - 'MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71'
          - 'SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D'
          - 'SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E'
          - 'SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F'
          - 'SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4'
          - 'IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462'
          - 'IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF'

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
`Description`	eq	`Process Hacker`
`Hashes`	match	`IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF` `IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462` `MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D` `MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71` `SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D` `SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E` `SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4` `SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F`
`Image`	ends_with	`\ProcessHacker.exe`
`Image`	match	`\ProcessHacker_`
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`Process Hacker` `ProcessHacker.exe`
`Product`	eq	`Process Hacker`

`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)

PUA - Process Hacker Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

PUA - Process Hacker Execution

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`