huntrule

Malicious Cloud Atlas UAC Bypass via fodhelper (via process_creation)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-10
Updated
2026-10-10
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects fodhelper.exe spawning a command interpreter or scripting host, the child processes produced by the fodhelper registry hijack that Cloud Atlas uses to bypass User Account Control. The bypass grants elevated execution without a consent prompt. Detecting fodhelper as the parent of these processes surfaces privilege escalation attempts.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1548.002 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious computerdefaults.exe Spawning Child Process
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Malicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)
Suspicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)
Malicious UAC Bypass via explorer.exe NOUACCHECK Argument
Suspicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Shell Command Hijack (via registry_set)
Suspicious UAC Weakening via ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin Disable by Winos (via registry_set)
Suspicious Fodhelper UAC Bypass ms-settings Command Registry Modification
Malicious UAC Bypass via HKCU Environment windir Hijack
Malicious Cloud Atlas UAC Bypass via fodhelper (via process_creation)
Pivot detection · T1548.002 · 9 related

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