Malicious SharePoint w3wp Spawning Command Shell and PowerShell
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-20
- Updated
- 2026-10-20
ATT&CK techniques
Initial Access → ExecutionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule detects the SharePoint IIS worker process w3wp.exe spawning cmd.exe or powershell.exe. Exploitation of the ToolShell SharePoint vulnerabilities results in the web worker launching shells to run base64 encoded commands. A web server process parenting an interactive shell strongly indicates webshell or exploitation activity.
Reporting behind it
- unit42.paloaltonetworks.comhttps://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/microsoft-sharepoint-cve-2025-49704-cve-2025-49706-cve-2025-53770/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1190/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/001/
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/003/
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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