Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Process Injection With Public Source Path
The following analytic detects a process from a non-standard file path on Windows attempting to create a remote thread in another process. This is identified using Sysmon EventCode 8, focusing on processes not originating from typical system directories. This behavior is significant as it often indicates process injection, a technique used by adversaries to evade detection or escalate privileges. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code within another process, potentially leading to unauthorized actions and further compromise of the system.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Privilege Escalation | T1055.002 Process Injection: Portable Executable Injection |
| Defense Evasion | T1055.002 Process Injection: Portable Executable Injection |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | 8 | CreateRemoteThread |
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
search NOT SourceImage IN ("%systemroot%\\*", "C:\\Program File*", "C:\\Windows\\*") EventCode=8 TargetImage="*.exe"
Stage 2: stats
stats BY EventID, Guid, NewThreadId, ProcessID, SecurityID, SourceImage, SourceProcessGuid, SourceProcessId, StartAddress, StartFunction, StartModule, TargetImage, TargetProcessGuid, TargetProcessId, UserID, dest, parent_process_exec, parent_process_guid, parent_process_id, parent_process_name, parent_process_path, process_exec, process_guid, process_id, process_name, process_path, signature, signature_id, user_id, vendor_product
Stage 3: search
search
Stage 4: search
search
Stage 5: search
search `macro`
Exclusions
Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts — predicates this rule actively suppresses.
| Stage | Field | Kind | Excluded values |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Image | in | "%systemroot%\\*", "C:\\Program File*", "C:\\Windows\\*" |
Indicators
Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
EventCode | eq |
|
TargetImage | eq |
|