Malicious Service Creation for DcRAT Persistence via sc.exe (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1543.003Windows Service
Priv Esc
- T1543.003Windows Service
Defense Evasion
- T1036Masquerading
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects use of sc.exe to create the MixedSvc service pointing at a masqueraded Mixed Reality.exe binary under the Windows Media Player folder, the persistence mechanism used by Operation DragonReturn to survive reboots. The actor abused Windows service control to auto-start its DcRAT loader with SYSTEM privileges, making this a high-value chokepoint for catching the intrusion before code injection into svchost.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Service Creation for DcRAT Persistence via sc.exe (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1543.003 · 9 related

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