WSL Kali-Linux Usage

Status: experimental
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the use of Kali Linux through Windows Subsystem for Linux

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1202` Indirect Command 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: WSL Kali-Linux Usage
id: 6f1a11aa-4b8a-4b7f-9e13-4d3e4ff0e0d4
status: experimental
description: Detects the use of Kali Linux through Windows Subsystem for Linux
references:
    - https://medium.com/@redfanatic7/running-kali-linux-on-windows-51ad95166e6e
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
date: 2025-10-10
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1202
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img_appdata:
        - Image|contains|all:
              - ':\Users\'
              - '\AppData\Local\packages\KaliLinux'
        - Image|contains|all:
              - ':\Users\'
              - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\kali.exe'
    selection_img_windowsapps:
        Image|contains: ':\Program Files\WindowsApps\KaliLinux.'
        Image|endswith: '\kali.exe'
    selection_kali_wsl_parent:
        ParentImage|endswith:
            - '\wsl.exe'
            - '\wslhost.exe'
    selection_kali_wsl_child:
        - Image|contains:
              - '\kali.exe'
              - '\KaliLinux'
        - CommandLine|contains:
              - 'Kali.exe'
              - 'Kali-linux'
              - 'kalilinux'
    filter_main_install_uninstall:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' -i '
            - ' --install '
            - ' --unregister '
    condition: 1 of selection_img_* or all of selection_kali_* and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate installation or usage of Kali Linux WSL by administrators or security teams
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_img_* or all of selection_kali_* and not 1 of filter_main_*

Stage 1: `selection_img_appdata`

selection_img_appdata:
    - Image|contains|all:
          - ':\Users\'
          - '\AppData\Local\packages\KaliLinux'
    - Image|contains|all:
          - ':\Users\'
          - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\kali.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_img_windowsapps`

selection_img_windowsapps:
    Image|contains: ':\Program Files\WindowsApps\KaliLinux.'
    Image|endswith: '\kali.exe'

Stage 3: `selection_kali_wsl_parent`

selection_kali_wsl_parent:
    ParentImage|endswith:
        - '\wsl.exe'
        - '\wslhost.exe'

Stage 4: `selection_kali_wsl_child`

selection_kali_wsl_child:
    - Image|contains:
          - '\kali.exe'
          - '\KaliLinux'
    - CommandLine|contains:
          - 'Kali.exe'
          - 'Kali-linux'
          - 'kalilinux'

Stage 5: `not filter_main_install_uninstall`

filter_main_install_uninstall:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' -i '
        - ' --install '
        - ' --unregister '

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`CommandLine`	match	`--install`
`CommandLine`	match	`--unregister`
`CommandLine`	match	`-i`

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	`Kali-linux` `Kali.exe` `kalilinux`
`Image`	ends_with	`\kali.exe`
`Image`	match	`:\Program Files\WindowsApps\KaliLinux.` `:\Users\` corpus 3 (sigma 3) `\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\kali.exe` `\AppData\Local\packages\KaliLinux` `\KaliLinux` `\kali.exe`
`ParentImage`	ends_with	`\wsl.exe` corpus 4 (sigma 4) `\wslhost.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)

WSL Kali-Linux Usage

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img_appdata`

Stage 2: `selection_img_windowsapps`

Stage 3: `selection_kali_wsl_parent`

Stage 4: `selection_kali_wsl_child`

Stage 5: `not filter_main_install_uninstall`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

WSL Kali-Linux Usage

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_img_appdata

Stage 2: selection_img_windowsapps

Stage 3: selection_kali_wsl_parent

Stage 4: selection_kali_wsl_child

Stage 5: not filter_main_install_uninstall

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img_appdata`

Stage 2: `selection_img_windowsapps`

Stage 3: `selection_kali_wsl_parent`

Stage 4: `selection_kali_wsl_child`

Stage 5: `not filter_main_install_uninstall`