Malicious SolarWinds BusinessLayerHost Spawning Suspicious Child Process (SUNBURST) (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218.011Rundll32
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost.exe spawning cmd.exe, powershell.exe, rundll32.exe, or schtasks.exe, the hallmark child processes of the SUNBURST supply chain backdoor. The trojanized Orion component should never launch these interpreters during normal operation. Detecting this parentage exposes hands-on SUNBURST activity such as reconnaissance and lateral movement.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious SolarWinds BusinessLayerHost Spawning Suspicious Child Process (SUNBURST) (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 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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