Detection rules › Sigma
Sysinternals PsService Execution
Detects usage of Sysinternals PsService which can be abused for service reconnaissance and tampering
Known false positives
- Legitimate use of PsService by an administrator
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | |
| Privilege Escalation |
Telemetry coverage
| Provider | Record / event type |
|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1: Process creation |
Rule body
title: Sysinternals PsService Execution
id: 3371f518-5fe3-4cf6-a14b-2a0ae3fd8a4f
status: test
description: Detects usage of Sysinternals PsService which can be abused for service reconnaissance and tampering
references:
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psservice
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-06-16
modified: 2026-06-29
tags:
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.discovery
- attack.persistence
- attack.t1543.003
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
- OriginalFileName: 'psservice.exe'
- Image|endswith:
- '\PsService.exe'
- '\PsService64.exe'
- '\PsService64a.exe'
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate use of PsService by an administrator
level: medium
Stages and Predicates
Stage 0: condition
selectionStage 1: selection
selection:
- OriginalFileName: 'psservice.exe'
- Image|endswith:
- '\PsService.exe'
- '\PsService64.exe'
- '\PsService64a.exe'
Indicators
These rows show field, operator, and value matches.
| Field | Kind | Values | Search |
|---|---|---|---|
Image | ends_with |
| field:"Image" kind:ends_with |
OriginalFileName | eq |
| field:"OriginalFileName" kind:eq value:"psservice.exe" |