Malicious Metasploit PsExec Named Pipe Command Execution

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-07-17
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Defense Evasion

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a command shell echoing data into a local named pipe, the service-based execution pattern produced by the Metasploit PsExec module when it installs a service that writes command output back through a pipe. This is used for remote code execution and lateral movement from a compromised host. Legitimate software does not echo into a raw named pipe from cmd.exe in this way.

Related detections9 linkedT1055 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious PowerShell Shellcode Loader via Function Pointer Delegate
Suspicious Executable Launched from Public Music Staging Directory (via process_creation)
Suspicious Named Pipe Created by Kazuar Backdoor for Interprocess Command Channel
Suspicious SmallTiger Backdoor DLL Load via Image Load
Suspicious svchost Execution With Anomalous Arguments via DeedRAT (via process_creation)
Suspicious Sang Loader Execution with Install or PassUAC Arguments
Suspicious GodRAT Shellcode Injection via Puppet Argument (via process_creation)
Malicious Service Execution via PAExec
Suspicious Executable Execution From AppData Roaming msgui via Process Creation
Malicious Metasploit PsExec Named Pipe Command Execution
Pivot detection · T1055 · 9 related

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