Process Proxy Execution Via Squirrel.EXE

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Karneades / Markus Neis, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the usage of the "Squirrel.exe" binary to execute arbitrary processes. This binary is part of multiple Electron based software installations (Slack, Teams, Discord, etc.)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1218` System Binary Proxy Execution

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4688	A new process has been created.

Rule body yaml

title: Process Proxy Execution Via Squirrel.EXE
id: 45239e6a-b035-4aaf-b339-8ad379fcb67e
related:
    - id: 1e75c1cc-c5d4-42aa-ac3d-91b0b68b3b4c
      type: similar
    - id: fa4b21c9-0057-4493-b289-2556416ae4d7
      type: obsolete
status: test
description: |
    Detects the usage of the "Squirrel.exe" binary to execute arbitrary processes. This binary is part of multiple Electron based software installations (Slack, Teams, Discord, etc.)
references:
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/OtherMSBinaries/Squirrel/
    - http://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2019/03/30/sqirrel-packages-manager-as-a-lolbin-a-k-a-many-electron-apps-are-lolbins-by-default/
    - http://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2018/08/16/squirrel-as-a-lolbin/
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Karneades / Markus Neis, Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community
date: 2022-06-09
modified: 2025-10-07
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\squirrel.exe'
            - '\update.exe'
    selection_exec:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--processStart'
            - '--processStartAndWait'
            - '--createShortcut'
    filter_optional_discord:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ':\Users\'
            - '\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe'
            - 'Discord.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--createShortcut'
            - '--processStart'
    filter_optional_github_desktop:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ':\Users\'
            - '\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\Update.exe'
            - 'GitHubDesktop.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--createShortcut'
            - '--processStartAndWait'
    filter_optional_teams:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ':\Users\'
            - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\Update.exe'
            - 'Teams.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--processStart'
            - '--createShortcut'
    filter_optional_yammer:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - ':\Users\'
            - '\AppData\Local\yammerdesktop\Update.exe'
            - 'Yammer.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '--processStart'
            - '--createShortcut'
    condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Expected FP with some Electron based applications such as (1Clipboard, Beaker Browser, Caret, Discord, GitHub Desktop, etc.)
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

Stage 1: `selection_img`

selection_img:
    Image|endswith:
        - '\squirrel.exe'
        - '\update.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_exec`

selection_exec:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--processStart'
        - '--processStartAndWait'
        - '--createShortcut'

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`

filter_optional_discord:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ':\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe'
        - 'Discord.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--createShortcut'
        - '--processStart'
filter_optional_github_desktop:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ':\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\Update.exe'
        - 'GitHubDesktop.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--createShortcut'
        - '--processStartAndWait'
filter_optional_teams:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ':\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\Update.exe'
        - 'Teams.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--processStart'
        - '--createShortcut'
filter_optional_yammer:
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - ':\Users\'
        - '\AppData\Local\yammerdesktop\Update.exe'
        - 'Yammer.exe'
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '--processStart'
        - '--createShortcut'

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`CommandLine`	match	`--createShortcut`
`CommandLine`	match	`--processStart`
`CommandLine`	match	`:\Users\`
`CommandLine`	match	`Discord.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`--createShortcut`
`CommandLine`	match	`--processStart`
`CommandLine`	match	`:\Users\`
`CommandLine`	match	`Teams.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\Update.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`--createShortcut`
`CommandLine`	match	`--processStart`
`CommandLine`	match	`:\Users\`
`CommandLine`	match	`Yammer.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`\AppData\Local\yammerdesktop\Update.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`--createShortcut`
`CommandLine`	match	`--processStartAndWait`
`CommandLine`	match	`:\Users\`
`CommandLine`	match	`GitHubDesktop.exe`
`CommandLine`	match	`\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\Update.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.

Field	Kind	Values
`CommandLine`	match	`--createShortcut` `--processStart` `--processStartAndWait`
`Image`	ends_with	`\squirrel.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `\update.exe` corpus 2 (sigma 2)

`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)

Process Proxy Execution Via Squirrel.EXE

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_exec`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Process Proxy Execution Via Squirrel.EXE

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_img

Stage 2: selection_exec

Stage 3: not filter_optional_*

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_exec`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`