Malicious Service Created With Binary Path in ProgramData

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1543.003Windows Service
Priv Esc
- T1543.003Windows Service
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a Windows service whose binary path points into ProgramData as used by the persistent actor to install a masqueraded svchost service for durable execution and this matters because legitimate services almost never run from ProgramData and a service pointing there reflects an attacker establishing SYSTEM level persistence.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Service Created With Binary Path in ProgramData

Pivot detection · T1543.003 · 9 related

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

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