Process Creation Attempt via Wmic.EXE — Sigma Rule

Rule metadata and linked tags

Author: Michael Haag, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), juju4, oscd.community. Source status: test; severity: medium. Source dates: 2019-01-16 / 2023-02-14.

{
  "category": "process_creation",
  "product": "windows"
}

Pinned original Sigma rule · Detection Rule License 1.1

Source SHA-256: 0f73159c2959355741f6170f489a4effc9a60579638c7e7d5e79bdaf124ae739

Detection logic

Original source YAML. Source-tag agreement is not proof of complete semantic coverage. This rule has not been compiled for a SIEM backend or validated against live telemetry here.

title: Process Creation Attempt via Wmic.EXE
id: 526be59f-a573-4eea-b5f7-f0973207634d
related:
    - id: 3c89a1e8-0fba-449e-8f1b-8409d6267ec8 # For suspicious process creation
      type: derived
status: test
description: |
    Detects the attempt to create a process via "wmic" with the "process call create" flag, which might
    indicate an attempt to execute a malicious process on the compromised host. Adversaries may use
    wmic to execute a process on the compromised host as part of their attack. This event is triggered on
    on attempt and process creation can be either successful or unsuccessful.
references:
    - https://www.sans.org/blog/wmic-for-incident-response/
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/84215139ee5127f8e3a117e063b604812bd71928/atomics/T1047/T1047.md#atomic-test-5---wmi-execute-local-process
author: Michael Haag, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), juju4, oscd.community
date: 2019-01-16
modified: 2023-02-14
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.t1047
    - car.2016-03-002
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
        - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe'
    selection_cli:
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'process'
            - 'call'
            - 'create'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium
simulation:
    - type: atomic red team
      name: WMI Execute Local Process
      technique: T1047
      atomic_guid: b3bdfc91-b33e-4c6d-a5c8-d64bee0276b3
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_wmic_process_creation/info.yml

Original YAML and metadata in JSON

False positives

• Unknown

Source references

• https://www.sans.org/blog/wmic-for-incident-response/
• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/84215139ee5127f8e3a117e063b604812bd71928/atomics/T1047/T1047.md#atomic-test-5---wmi-execute-local-process