Malicious ClickFix PowerShell DownloadFile Loader with Hidden Window

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-07-19
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Execution
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a hidden-window PowerShell process using DownloadFile to fetch a script from a remote host, the NetSupport RAT ClickFix loader pattern. Victims pasted a command that ran PowerShell with hidden window and no-profile flags to download and then execute a follow-on .ps1 payload. Hidden PowerShell combined with a remote file download is a classic first-stage loader behavior.

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Malicious ClickFix PowerShell DownloadFile Loader with Hidden Window
Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.