Malicious SolarWinds BusinessLayerHost Spawning Command Interpreter

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
- T1195.002Compromise Software Supply Chain
Execution
- T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost.exe spawning a command interpreter such as cmd.exe or powershell.exe, anomalous child process behavior consistent with the SUNBURST backdoor executing operator commands. The legitimate Orion component does not normally launch shells, so this parent-child relationship is a strong supply-chain compromise indicator. It reflects post-exploitation activity from a trojanized signed binary.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious SolarWinds BusinessLayerHost Spawning Command Interpreter

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.

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