Malicious Citrix WFShell Spawning Command Interpreter via Command Line
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- Updated
- 2026-08-28
ATT&CK techniques
Initial AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects the Citrix wfshell.exe or cmstart.exe process spawning a command interpreter, a post-exploitation chain observed after abuse of the Citrix Bleed vulnerability CVE-2023-4966 leading to LockBit ransomware. These Citrix components should not launch shells. Detecting the chain exposes hands-on-keyboard activity following gateway compromise.
Reporting behind it
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
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