Malicious NetSupport RAT Execution From Public Folder via Process Creation

ATT&CK techniques

C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1219Remote Access Tools
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the NetSupport client32.exe running with its client32.ini configuration from the Users Public directory, a placement pattern characteristic of NetSupport Manager abused as a remote access trojan. Attackers deploy the legitimate remote control tool from world-writable locations to gain hands-on-keyboard access while blending in with sanctioned software, so this path is a strong indicator of RAT abuse.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1219 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious ScreenConnect Remote Access Binary Running Under a Renamed Executable

Malicious Silent AteraAgent RMM Installation via IntegratorLogin

Possible Remote Monitoring and Management Tool Abuse for Remote Access

Suspicious NetSupport Manager Client Executing From ProgramData via Process Creation (via process_creation)

Malicious PowerShell Download Cradle Spawned by Quick Assist

Suspicious AnyDesk Unattended Password Set via Piped Echo

Suspicious Remote Monitoring Tool Executing from GoAnywhere Directory

Suspicious NetSupport Manager Remote Client Execution (via process_creation)

Suspicious ScreenConnect Remote Access Client Spawning PowerShell (via process_creation)

Malicious NetSupport RAT Execution From Public Folder via Process Creation

Pivot detection · T1219 · 9 related

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

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →