Program Executed Using Proxy/Local Command Via SSH.EXE

Status: test
Severity: medium
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detect usage of the "ssh.exe" binary as a proxy to launch other programs.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1218` System Binary Proxy Execution

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: Program Executed Using Proxy/Local Command Via SSH.EXE
id: 7d6d30b8-5b91-4b90-a891-46cccaf29598
status: test
description: Detect usage of the "ssh.exe" binary as a proxy to launch other programs.
references:
    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/Ssh/
    - https://github.com/LOLBAS-Project/LOLBAS/pull/211/files
    - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/ssh/
    - https://man.openbsd.org/ssh_config#ProxyCommand
    - https://man.openbsd.org/ssh_config#LocalCommand
author: frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali
date: 2022-12-29
modified: 2025-10-16
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_parent:
        # ParentCommandLine: '"C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\sshd.exe" -R'
        ParentImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\sshd.exe'
    selection_cli_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\ssh.exe'
        - Product: 'OpenSSH for Windows'
        - Hashes|contains:
              - 'IMPHASH=55b4964d29aad5438b9e950052dbbbc0'
              - 'IMPHASH=334d66c33503ccbf647c15b47c27eef4'
              - 'IMPHASH=27b0da080ef92afb37983d30d839141e'
              - 'IMPHASH=977eb4c263d384e47daa0712d34713ab'
              - 'IMPHASH=3eaadce9ae43d5a918bb082065815c3b'
              - 'IMPHASH=980fe6cf0d996ab1eedf877222e722aa'
              - 'IMPHASH=5f959422308ac3d721010d66647e100e'
              - 'IMPHASH=a49aaa3d03d1cd9c8dc7fca60f7f480b'
              - 'IMPHASH=dd335f759b6d5d6a8382b71dd9d65791'
    selection_cli_flags:
        - CommandLine|contains: 'ProxyCommand='
        - CommandLine|contains|all:
              - 'PermitLocalCommand=yes'
              - ' LocalCommand'
    condition: selection_parent or all of selection_cli_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate usage for administration purposes
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection_parent or all of selection_cli_*

Stage 1: `selection_parent`

selection_parent:
    ParentImage: 'C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\sshd.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_cli_img`

selection_cli_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\ssh.exe'
    - Product: 'OpenSSH for Windows'
    - Hashes|contains:
          - 'IMPHASH=55b4964d29aad5438b9e950052dbbbc0'
          - 'IMPHASH=334d66c33503ccbf647c15b47c27eef4'
          - 'IMPHASH=27b0da080ef92afb37983d30d839141e'
          - 'IMPHASH=977eb4c263d384e47daa0712d34713ab'
          - 'IMPHASH=3eaadce9ae43d5a918bb082065815c3b'
          - 'IMPHASH=980fe6cf0d996ab1eedf877222e722aa'
          - 'IMPHASH=5f959422308ac3d721010d66647e100e'
          - 'IMPHASH=a49aaa3d03d1cd9c8dc7fca60f7f480b'
          - 'IMPHASH=dd335f759b6d5d6a8382b71dd9d65791'

Stage 3: `selection_cli_flags`

selection_cli_flags:
    - CommandLine|contains: 'ProxyCommand='
    - CommandLine|contains|all:
          - 'PermitLocalCommand=yes'
          - ' LocalCommand'

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	`LocalCommand` `PermitLocalCommand=yes` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `ProxyCommand=` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`Hashes`	match	`IMPHASH=27b0da080ef92afb37983d30d839141e` `IMPHASH=334d66c33503ccbf647c15b47c27eef4` `IMPHASH=3eaadce9ae43d5a918bb082065815c3b` `IMPHASH=55b4964d29aad5438b9e950052dbbbc0` `IMPHASH=5f959422308ac3d721010d66647e100e` `IMPHASH=977eb4c263d384e47daa0712d34713ab` `IMPHASH=980fe6cf0d996ab1eedf877222e722aa` `IMPHASH=a49aaa3d03d1cd9c8dc7fca60f7f480b` `IMPHASH=dd335f759b6d5d6a8382b71dd9d65791`
`Image`	ends_with	`\ssh.exe` corpus 3 (sigma 3)
`ParentImage`	eq	`C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\sshd.exe`
`Product`	eq	`OpenSSH for Windows`

`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)

Program Executed Using Proxy/Local Command Via SSH.EXE

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_parent`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_img`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_flags`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Program Executed Using Proxy/Local Command Via SSH.EXE

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_parent

Stage 2: selection_cli_img

Stage 3: selection_cli_flags

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_parent`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_img`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_flags`