Malicious PsExec Service Installation via PSEXESVC

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1569.002Service Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.002SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects installation of the PSEXESVC service on a target host which is created when Sysinternals PsExec is used for remote command execution as described in the WithSecure lateral movement lab. Attackers routinely abuse PsExec for hands on keyboard lateral movement so a PSEXESVC service install on a system that does not routinely receive one is a strong lateral movement indicator.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1021.002 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious RemCom Service Named Pipe for Lateral Movement (via pipe_created)

Malicious PsExec Service Binary Execution from Windows Directory via services.exe (via process_creation)

Malicious Remote Command Execution via smbexec Output Redirection Pattern

Malicious Lateral Movement via PsExec File-List Target

Suspicious Lateral Movement via PsExec Service (via process_creation)

Possible PsExec Remote Service Installation with Randomly Named Service (via security)

Windows Named Pipe Creation: Default RemCom Pipe Name

Windows Named Pipe Created for CSExec Default Pipe Name

Windows Registry Service Install Indicators for Cobalt Strike Staging

Malicious PsExec Service Installation via PSEXESVC

Pivot detection · T1021.002 · 9 related

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

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 →