Windows Security 4688 — Process creation

Source and collection

Windows Event Log: Security; archived .evtx is binary, while this fixture is an XML event export.

Configure Audit Process Creation. Read with Get-WinEvent and preserve provider, event ID, version, computer and record ID.

Native example and provenance

publisher documentation example. Published example; no independent capture provenance claimed.

Original publisher / pinned upstream fixture — preformatted example 1

Removed Event Viewer tree expansion markers before XML tags; field values unchanged.

Download the exact sample · Offline research kit

SHA-256: 9cdbbc7df3be3baa9aa092e716a09ce2d12a7a39e33ea4f1d2d5a5a2464b7d28

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
 <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing" Guid="{54849625-5478-4994-A5BA-3E3B0328C30D}" /> 
 <EventID>4688</EventID> 
 <Version>2</Version> 
 <Level>0</Level> 
 <Task>13312</Task> 
 <Opcode>0</Opcode> 
 <Keywords>0x8020000000000000</Keywords> 
 <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-11-12T02:24:52.377352500Z" /> 
 <EventRecordID>2814</EventRecordID> 
 <Correlation /> 
 <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="400" /> 
 <Channel>Security</Channel> 
 <Computer>WIN-GG82ULGC9GO.contoso.local</Computer> 
 <Security /> 
 </System>
<EventData>
 <Data Name="SubjectUserSid">S-1-5-18</Data> 
 <Data Name="SubjectUserName">WIN-GG82ULGC9GO$</Data> 
 <Data Name="SubjectDomainName">CONTOSO</Data> 
 <Data Name="SubjectLogonId">0x3e7</Data> 
 <Data Name="NewProcessId">0x2bc</Data> 
 <Data Name="NewProcessName">C:\\Windows\\System32\\rundll32.exe</Data> 
 <Data Name="TokenElevationType">%%1938</Data> 
 <Data Name="ProcessId">0xe74</Data> 
 <Data Name="CommandLine" /> 
 <Data Name="TargetUserSid">S-1-5-21-1377283216-344919071-3415362939-1104</Data> 
 <Data Name="TargetUserName">dadmin</Data> 
 <Data Name="TargetDomainName">CONTOSO</Data> 
 <Data Name="TargetLogonId">0x4a5af0</Data> 
 <Data Name="ParentProcessName">C:\\Windows\\explorer.exe</Data> 
 <Data Name="MandatoryLabel">S-1-16-8192</Data> 
 </EventData>
</Event>

Structure and field interpretation

System/EventID

Event identifier within the named provider.

System/Version

Version of this event layout.

System/TimeCreated/@SystemTime

Event timestamp in UTC.

EventData

Named fields; use names, not positional array indices.

Relevant fields

NewProcessId, NewProcessName, CommandLine, SubjectLogonId

Investigation uses

• Reconstruct parent and child processes and examine command-line context with user and session evidence.
• Compare event time with ingestion time and retain the original XML for a reviewable evidence trail.

Validation boundaries

CommandLine can be empty unless the separate command-line policy is enabled; hexadecimal process IDs can be reused. This sample uses event version 2.

This sample passed byte-integrity and JSON/XML parsing checks, including the catalogue’s specified event discriminators. This is not a complete vendor-schema validation or a tested detection.

For a simulation, first parse this fixture offline, then create a separately labelled synthetic variant and test it against the intended collector in an isolated lab. Never replay public example identities or destinations into production.

Related sources

• Windows Security 4624 — Successful logon
• Windows Security 4625 — Failed logon
• Windows Security 4698 — Scheduled task created
• Windows Security 4720 — User account created
• Windows Security 4732 — Member added to local security group
• Windows Security 4740 — Account locked out

Ecosystem connections

• Telemetry Library — ATT&CK data components
• Detection Rules — candidate detection content
• Threat hunting — from intelligence to validated defense
• Practical security learning paths
• AdversaryGraph — evidence-led investigation

• DC0032 — conceptual telemetry association, not coverage proof

References

• 4688(S) A new process has been created. - Windows 10 | Microsoft Learn

Sample provenance is linked above. Field availability and product behavior must be checked against the deployed version.