Detection rules › Sigma
Scheduled Task Creation Masquerading as System Processes
Detects the creation of scheduled tasks that involve system processes, which may indicate malicious actors masquerading as or abusing these processes to execute payloads or maintain persistence.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Execution | T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
| Persistence | T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
| Privilege Escalation | T1053.005 Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
| Stealth | T1036.004 Masquerading: Masquerade Task or Service, T1036.005 Masquerading: Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
Rule body yaml
title: Scheduled Task Creation Masquerading as System Processes
id: 9f8573c9-22b4-40e3-89c1-72bc2b8d49ab
status: experimental
description: Detects the creation of scheduled tasks that involve system processes, which may indicate malicious actors masquerading as or abusing these processes to execute payloads or maintain persistence.
references:
- https://tria.ge/241015-l98snsyeje/behavioral2
author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
date: 2025-02-05
tags:
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.execution
- attack.persistence
- attack.stealth
- attack.t1053.005
- attack.t1036.004
- attack.t1036.005
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection_img:
- Image|endswith: '\schtasks.exe'
- OriginalFileName: 'schtasks.exe'
selection_cli:
CommandLine|contains|windash: ' /create '
CommandLine|contains:
- ' audiodg'
- ' conhost'
- ' dwm.exe'
- ' explorer'
- ' lsass'
- ' lsm'
- ' mmc'
- ' msiexec'
- ' regsvr32'
- ' rundll32'
- ' services'
- ' spoolsv'
- ' svchost'
- ' taskeng'
- ' taskhost'
- ' wininit'
- ' winlogon'
condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
- Legitimate system administration tasks scheduling trusted system processes.
level: high
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
all of selection_*Stage 1: selection_img
selection_img:
- Image|endswith: '\schtasks.exe'
- OriginalFileName: 'schtasks.exe'
Stage 2: selection_cli
selection_cli:
CommandLine|contains|windash: ' /create '
CommandLine|contains:
- ' audiodg'
- ' conhost'
- ' dwm.exe'
- ' explorer'
- ' lsass'
- ' lsm'
- ' mmc'
- ' msiexec'
- ' regsvr32'
- ' rundll32'
- ' services'
- ' spoolsv'
- ' svchost'
- ' taskeng'
- ' taskhost'
- ' wininit'
- ' winlogon'
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 | match |
|
Image | ends_with |
|
OriginalFileName | eq |
|