Service Binary in Suspicious Folder

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category registry_set
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), frack113
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detect the creation of a service with a service binary located in a suspicious directory

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1112` Modify Registry
Defense Impairment	`T1112` Modify Registry

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 13	RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Rule body yaml

title: Service Binary in Suspicious Folder
id: a07f0359-4c90-4dc4-a681-8ffea40b4f47
related:
    - id: c0abc838-36b0-47c9-b3b3-a90c39455382
      type: obsolete
status: test
description: Detect the creation of a service with a service binary located in a suspicious directory
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1562.001/T1562.001.md
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), frack113
date: 2022-05-02
modified: 2025-10-07
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1112
logsource:
    category: registry_set
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_service_start:
        TargetObject|startswith: 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\'
        TargetObject|endswith: '\Start'
        Image|contains:
            - '\Users\Public\'
            - '\Perflogs\'
            - '\ADMIN$\'
            - '\Temp\'
        Details:
            - 'DWORD (0x00000000)'  # boot
            - 'DWORD (0x00000001)'  # System
            - 'DWORD (0x00000002)'  # Automatic
            # 3 - Manual , 4 - Disabled
    selection_service_imagepath:
        TargetObject|startswith: 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\'
        TargetObject|endswith: '\ImagePath'
        Details|contains:
            - '\Users\Public\'
            - '\Perflogs\'
            - '\ADMIN$\'
            - '\Temp\'
    filter_optional_avast:
        Image|contains|all: # Filter FP with Avast software
            - '\Common Files\'
            - '\Temp\'
    filter_optional_mbamservice:
        TargetObject|endswith: '\CurrentControlSet\Services\MBAMInstallerService\ImagePath'
        Details|endswith: '\AppData\Local\Temp\MBAMInstallerService.exe"'
        Image: 'C:\Windows\system32\services.exe'
    condition: 1 of selection_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

1 of selection_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

Stage 1: `selection_service_start`

selection_service_start:
    TargetObject|startswith: 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\'
    TargetObject|endswith: '\Start'
    Image|contains:
        - '\Users\Public\'
        - '\Perflogs\'
        - '\ADMIN$\'
        - '\Temp\'
    Details:
        - 'DWORD (0x00000000)'
        - 'DWORD (0x00000001)'
        - 'DWORD (0x00000002)'

Stage 2: `selection_service_imagepath`

selection_service_imagepath:
    TargetObject|startswith: 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\'
    TargetObject|endswith: '\ImagePath'
    Details|contains:
        - '\Users\Public\'
        - '\Perflogs\'
        - '\ADMIN$\'
        - '\Temp\'

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`

filter_optional_avast:
    Image|contains|all:
        - '\Common Files\'
        - '\Temp\'
filter_optional_mbamservice:
    TargetObject|endswith: '\CurrentControlSet\Services\MBAMInstallerService\ImagePath'
    Details|endswith: '\AppData\Local\Temp\MBAMInstallerService.exe"'
    Image: 'C:\Windows\system32\services.exe'

Exclusions

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

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`Details`	ends_with	`\AppData\Local\Temp\MBAMInstallerService.exe"`
`Image`	eq	`C:\Windows\system32\services.exe`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\CurrentControlSet\Services\MBAMInstallerService\ImagePath`
`Image`	match	`\Common Files\`
`Image`	match	`\Temp\`

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
`Details`	eq	`DWORD (0x00000000)` corpus 38 (sigma 36, chronicle 2) `DWORD (0x00000001)` corpus 40 (sigma 36, chronicle 4) `DWORD (0x00000002)` corpus 11 (sigma 9, chronicle 1, kusto 1)
`Details`	match	`\ADMIN$\` `\Perflogs\` corpus 3 (sigma 3) `\Temp\` `\Users\Public\` corpus 5 (sigma 5)
`Image`	match	`\ADMIN$\` `\Perflogs\` corpus 5 (sigma 5) `\Temp\` corpus 4 (sigma 4) `\Users\Public\` corpus 10 (sigma 10)
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\ImagePath` corpus 3 (sigma 3) `\Start` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`TargetObject`	starts_with	`HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\`

`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)

Service Binary in Suspicious Folder

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_service_start`

Stage 2: `selection_service_imagepath`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Service Binary in Suspicious Folder

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_service_start

Stage 2: selection_service_imagepath

Stage 3: not filter_optional_*

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_service_start`

Stage 2: `selection_service_imagepath`

Stage 3: `not filter_optional_*`