Potential Privilege Escalation To LOCAL SYSTEM

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

Detects unknown program using commandline flags usually used by tools such as PsExec and PAExec to start programs with SYSTEM Privileges

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Resource Development	`T1587.001` Develop Capabilities: Malware

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: Potential Privilege Escalation To LOCAL SYSTEM
id: 207b0396-3689-42d9-8399-4222658efc99
related:
    - id: 8834e2f7-6b4b-4f09-8906-d2276470ee23 # PsExec specific rule
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects unknown program using commandline flags usually used by tools such as PsExec and PAExec to start programs with SYSTEM Privileges
references:
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec
    - https://www.poweradmin.com/paexec/
    - https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/10/kegtap-and-singlemalt-with-a-ransomware-chaser.html
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-05-22
modified: 2024-03-05
tags:
    - attack.resource-development
    - attack.t1587.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        # Escalation to LOCAL_SYSTEM
        CommandLine|contains|windash:
            # Note that you don't need to add the ".exe" part when using psexec/paexec
            # The "-" can also be replaced with "/"
            # The order of args isn't important
            # "cmd" can be replaced by "powershell", "pwsh" or any other console like software
            - ' -s cmd'
            - ' -s -i cmd'
            - ' -i -s cmd'
            # Pwsh (For PowerShell 7)
            - ' -s pwsh'
            - ' -s -i pwsh'
            - ' -i -s pwsh'
            # PowerShell (For PowerShell 5)
            - ' -s powershell'
            - ' -s -i powershell'
            - ' -i -s powershell'
    filter_main_exclude_coverage:
        # This filter exclude strings covered by 8834e2f7-6b4b-4f09-8906-d2276470ee23
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'paexec'
            - 'PsExec'
            - 'accepteula'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Weird admins that rename their tools
    - Software companies that bundle PsExec/PAExec with their software and rename it, so that it is less embarrassing
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    CommandLine|contains|windash:
        - ' -s cmd'
        - ' -s -i cmd'
        - ' -i -s cmd'
        - ' -s pwsh'
        - ' -s -i pwsh'
        - ' -i -s pwsh'
        - ' -s powershell'
        - ' -s -i powershell'
        - ' -i -s powershell'

Stage 2: `not filter_main_exclude_coverage`

filter_main_exclude_coverage:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'paexec'
        - 'PsExec'
        - 'accepteula'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`CommandLine`	match	`PsExec`
`CommandLine`	match	`accepteula`
`CommandLine`	match	`paexec`

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	`-i -s cmd` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-i -s powershell` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-i -s pwsh` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s -i cmd` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s -i powershell` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s -i pwsh` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s cmd` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s powershell` transforms: `windash` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `-s pwsh` transforms: `windash` 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)

Potential Privilege Escalation To LOCAL SYSTEM

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_main_exclude_coverage`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Potential Privilege Escalation To LOCAL SYSTEM

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Stage 2: not filter_main_exclude_coverage

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_main_exclude_coverage`