huntrule

Malicious PowerShell Spawned by PHP CGI Process

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-11
Updated
2026-09-11
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

  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 the php-cgi.exe process spawning PowerShell which indicates exploitation of CVE-2024-4577 argument injection to achieve remote code execution on Windows PHP servers as seen in the persistent attacks against Japanese organizations. A web facing PHP CGI interpreter launching PowerShell is not expected during normal operation and signals server compromise.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious PowerShell Spawned by PHP CGI Process
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.