Sign in Get started

Back to results

HighSigmaHQ Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) +1

PsExec/PAExec Escalation to LOCAL SYSTEM

Detects suspicious commandline flags used by PsExec and PAExec to escalate a command line to LOCAL_SYSTEM rights

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Platform: PRE
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
Log source product: windows
Log source category: process_creation

Known benign triggers

Admins that use PsExec or PAExec to escalate to the SYSTEM account for maintenance purposes (rare)
Users that debug Microsoft Intune issues using the commands mentioned in the official documentation; see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/apps/intune-management-extension

References

Links the source published beside this detection. Reference is the link the source wrote, unmodified. Class is decided by this catalogue from the host and path, not stated by the source. Cited by counts published detections citing the same resource, including this one, and the sources beneath it count the repositories this catalogue ingests, which is not the same as independent research.
Reference	Class	Cited by
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec	Product documentation	6
www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/10/kegtap-and-singlemalt-with-a-ransomware-chaser.html	Threat report	6
www.poweradmin.com/paexec/	Unclassified	5

Detections can measure how the public catalogue is used — which detections people look for, and which pages bring them here. It sets a cookie that recognises this browser for 180 days. It is never linked to an account and never follows you to other sites. Privacy notice