Malicious Remote Encryptor Execution via WMIC Process Call Create (Chaos Ransomware)

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

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Impact
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

What it detects

This rule detects the Chaos ransomware group using WMIC to remotely spawn its encryptor binary with campaign-specific arguments such as lkey, encrypt_step and work_mode. Remote process creation over WMI is used to deploy the encryptor across the network. This behavior indicates active ransomware deployment combined with lateral movement.

Related detections9 linkedT1486 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Interlock Ransomware Encrypted File and Note Creation (via file_event)
Malicious Shadow Copy Deletion via WMIC via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Suspicious System Reconnaissance Output Redirected to PDF File (via process_creation)
Suspicious Phantom Taurus mssq.bat SQL Execution via WMI (via process_creation)
Malicious Ransomware Encryption Extension x2anylock
Malicious Fivehands Go Encryptor Execution via Command Line Flags
Malicious Antivirus Removal via WMIC Product Uninstall
Malicious SafePay Ransomware Encryptor Command-Line Execution
Malicious The Gentlemen Ransomware Encryptor via Distinctive CLI Flags
Malicious Remote Encryptor Execution via WMIC Process Call Create (Chaos Ransomware)
Pivot detection · T1486 · 9 related

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