Malicious Impacket Atexec Remote Scheduled Task Execution (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Persistence
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Priv Esc
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.002SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the scheduled-task pattern used by Impacket atexec for remote command execution, where schtasks registers a one-off ONSTART task that runs cmd and redirects output to a temporary file for retrieval over SMB. Remote execution via scheduled tasks is a lateral-movement behavior in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report and a hallmark of hands-on-keyboard operators. Detecting this task-creation signature surfaces Impacket-driven lateral movement.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Impacket Atexec Remote Scheduled Task Execution (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1053.005 · 9 related

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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