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WinRM Spawning a Process

The following analytic detects suspicious processes spawned by WinRM (wsmprovhost.exe). It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific child processes like cmd.exe,…

Description

The following analytic detects suspicious processes spawned by WinRM (wsmprovhost.exe). It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific child processes like cmd.exe, powershell.exe, and others. This activity is significant as it may indicate exploitation attempts of vulnerabilities like CVE-2021-31166, which could lead to system instability or compromise. If confirmed malicious, attackers could execute arbitrary commands, escalate privileges, or maintain persistence, posing a severe threat to the environment.

Detection logic

Detection requirements

Platform
ContainersESXiIaaSLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesWindows

The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.

Known benign triggers

  • No false positives have been identified at this time. system management software may spawn processes from `wsmprovhost.exe`.

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