Malicious Shai-Hulud Self-Hosted GitHub Runner Registration via Process Creation

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-24
Updated
2026-10-24

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Execution

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects registration of a rogue self-hosted GitHub Actions runner using the runner.listener binary with unattended flags and the SHA1HULUD name marker tied to the second-wave Shai-Hulud supply chain worm. Attackers register malicious runners to obtain persistent code execution inside CI/CD pipelines and spread across repositories, enabling mass credential theft and downstream package poisoning.

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Pivot detection · T1195.002 · 9 related

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