Detection catalogue

The following analytic detects shells, scripting engines, and common post-exploitation utilities spawned as child processes of smsexec.exe. smsexec.exe is the core SCCM SMS Executive service process and has no legitimate reason to launch interactive shells or scripting interpreters. An attacker who plants a malicious adsource.dll in the SCCMProvider bin\X64 directory will obtain code execution in the SCCM service context, typically resulting in a SYSTEM-level child process being spawned under

The following analytic detects the creation or modification of adsource.dll or other staging files with the name adsource_*.dll within the SCCM SMS Provider bin directory, consistent with exploitation of CVE-2026-47301. This abuses a DLL side-loading vulnerability in the Microsoft Configuration Manager SMS Provider component. An attacker can plant a malicious adsource.

The following analytic detects .cab files being written to disk. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on events where the file name is '*.cab' and the action is 'write'. This activity can be significant as .cab files can be used to deliver malicious payloads, including embedded .url files that execute harmful code. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to unauthorized code execution and potential system compromise.

The following analytic detects renaming of Windows built-in accounts via Event ID 4781. It identifies renames targeting accounts with well-known reserved RIDs (500-504): Administrator, Guest, krbtgt, DefaultAccount, and WDAGUtilityAccount, by matching the TargetSid field against the S-1-5-21-*-50[0-4] pattern. Attackers commonly rename the built-in Administrator account to evade detections that alert on the literal account name, while retaining the full privileges of the RID-500 account.

The following analytic detects execution of the socat utility with a remote TCP or OpenSSL connection and local terminal echo disabled. This configuration may be used for interactive terminal sessions, password handling, automation, or network debugging. When observed in an unexpected context, such as execution by an unusual parent process or connection to an untrusted endpoint, it may indicate suspicious remote access activity.

The following analytic detects the execution of the socat utility with command-line arguments that configure a TCP or OpenSSL listener and bind an executable to incoming connections. Socat is a legitimate network utility, but this behavior may be used to expose executables, establish bind shells, facilitate remote command execution, or support lateral movement.

The following analytic identifies suspicious PowerShell execution using Script Block Logging (EventCode 4104). It leverages specific patterns and keywords within the ScriptBlockText field to detect potentially malicious activities. This detection is significant for SOC analysts as PowerShell is commonly used by attackers for various malicious purposes, including code execution, privilege escalation, and persistence.

The following analytic detects the use of macOS AppleScript utilities to execute shell commands or compile AppleScript containing shell-command logic. The analytic identifies `osascript` invocations using AppleScript's `do shell script` command, which executes shell commands on the host. It also identifies `osacompile` invocations referencing `do shell script`. `osacompile` compiles AppleScript into a compiled script but does not execute it directly.

Detects a Unix-based (Linux or macOS) browser process spawning a Unix shell that establishes an outbound connection to an external destination. This browser-to-shell execution chain may indicate malicious browser content, drive-by execution, a compromised website, or abuse of a browser extension on Linux or macOS systems. The behavior may also occur during legitimate development, installation, automation, or enterprise software workflows.

The following analytic identifies potential exploitation attempts against Citrix ADC related to CVE-2023-3519. It detects POST requests to specific web endpoints associated with this vulnerability by leveraging the Web datamodel. This activity is significant as CVE-2023-3519 involves a SAML processing overflow issue that can lead to memory corruption, posing a high risk.

The following analytic detects an unusual process execution pattern where a process running from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ attempts to execute a binary from C:\Windows\System32\. In a typical Windows environment, 32-bit processes under SysWOW64 should primarily interact with 32-bit binaries within the same directory. However, an execution flow where a 32-bit process spawns a 64-bit binary from System32 can indicate potential process injection, privilege escalation, evasion techniques, or

Detects abuse of Tiny-C-Compiler (TinyCC) for shellcode execution, where tcc.exe is renamed to masquerade as svchost.exe and used to compile and execute C source files containing shellcode. This technique was observed in the Lotus Blossom Chrysalis backdoor campaign, where attackers renamed "tcc.exe" to "svchost.exe", and executed a file named "conf.c" containing Metasploit block_api shellcode with the flags -nostdlib -run.

The following analytic identifies processes running from file paths not typically associated with legitimate software. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific process paths within the Endpoint data model. This activity is significant because adversaries often use unconventional file paths to execute malicious code without requiring administrative privileges.

The following analytic identifies processes running from %temp% directory file paths. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on specific process paths within the Endpoint data model. This activity is significant because adversaries often use unconventional file paths to execute malicious code without requiring administrative privileges.

The following analytic identifies processes that retrieve information related to private key files, often used by post-exploitation tools like winpeas. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line executions that search for private key certificates. This activity is significant as it indicates potential attempts to locate insecurely stored credentials, which adversaries can exploit for privilege escalation, persistence, or remote

The following analytic detects the usage of wevtutil.exe with parameters for clearing event logs such as Application, Security, Setup, Trace, or System. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line arguments. This activity is significant because clearing event logs can be an attempt to cover tracks after malicious actions, hindering forensic investigations.

The following analytic detects suspicious data chunking activities that involve the use of split or dd, potentially indicating an attempt to evade detection by breaking large files into smaller parts. Attackers may use this technique to bypass size-based security controls, facilitating the covert exfiltration of sensitive data. By monitoring for unusual or unauthorized use of these commands, this analytic helps identify potential data exfiltration attempts, allowing security teams to intervene

The following analytic detects the creation of a new local user account on a MacOS system. It leverages osquery logs to identify this activity. Monitoring the creation of local accounts is crucial for a SOC as it can indicate unauthorized access or lateral movement within the network. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to establish persistence, escalate privileges, or gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data.

The following analytic identifies public network connections initiated by Living Off the Land Binaries and Scripts (LOLBAS) that rarely require direct outbound network access. It leverages the Network Traffic data model and focuses on native Windows binaries where any public destination should be investigated and explicitly approved. This activity may indicate proxy execution, process injection, payload download, command-and-control, or other abuse of trusted binaries to evade security controls.

The following analytic identifies Living Off the Land Binaries and Scripts (LOLBAS) that can legitimately initiate public network connections but are communicating over uncommon destination ports. It leverages the Network Traffic data model and applies per-binary common-port exclusions to reduce false positives while preserving suspicious non-standard communication.

The following analytic detects exploitation of Ghostscript causing command execution. This can be used by attackers to abuse file conversion services or embedded LibreOffice documents.

The following analytic detects the execution of a Unix shell command designed to wipe root directories on a Linux host. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on the 'rm' command with the '--no-preserve-root' option. This activity is significant as it indicates potential data destruction attempts, often associated with malware like Awfulshred.

The following analytic detects the use of the crontab command with the list parameter (-l) to enumerate scheduled tasks configured in the invoking user's crontab on Linux systems. Adversaries may use this information to identify persistence mechanisms, scheduled execution, or potential privilege escalation opportunities. The use of crontab -l is also common administrative activity and may require tuning based on the executing user, parent process, and environment.

The following analytic detects the execution of JScript using the cscript.exe process. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process and command-line telemetry. This behavior is significant because JScript files are typically executed by wscript.exe, making cscript.exe execution unusual and potentially indicative of malicious activity, such as the FIN7 group's tactics.

The following analytic detects instances where an adversary modifies security permissions of a file or directory using commands like "icacls.exe", "cacls.exe", or "xcacls.exe" with deny options. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions. This activity is significant as it is commonly used by Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and coinminer scripts to evade detection and impede access to critical files.

The following analytic detects the use of download or file reading utilities from Windows, Linux or MacOS to download or read the contents of a file from a remote or local source and pipe it directly to a shell for execution. This detection leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on command-line executions. This activity is significant as it is commonly associated with malicious actions like coinminers and exploits such as CVE-2021-44228 in Log4j.

The following analytic identifies the use of Living Off the Land Binaries and Scripts (LOLBAS) with network traffic. It leverages data from the Network Traffic data model to detect when native Windows binaries, often abused by adversaries, initiate network connections. This activity is significant as LOLBAS are frequently used to download malicious payloads, enabling lateral movement, command-and-control, or data exfiltration.

The following analytic detects suspicious modifications to cron jobs on Linux systems using the crontab command with list parameters. It leverages data from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents, focusing on process names and command-line executions. This activity is significant as it may indicate an attempt to establish persistence or execute malicious code on a schedule.

Identifies anomalous execution of BrowserCore.exe, the Windows component used by Chromium-based browsers for native messaging with the Web Account Manager (WAM). Adversaries abuse BrowserCore to extract Entra ID Primary Refresh Tokens (PRTs) without interactive browser context, enabling session hijacking. Legitimate BrowserCore launches carry a chrome-extension:// argument from the browser native-messaging host.