Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE (via process_creation)

title: Potentially Suspicious Child Process Of DiskShadow.EXE (via process_creation)
id: efd2be91-26d0-56c2-9170-6850d34ed795
status: stable
description: This rule detects potentially anomalous child processes of "Diskshadow.exe". This could be an attempt to bypass parent/child relationship detection or application whitelisting rules.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/
    - https://bohops.com/2018/03/26/diskshadow-the-return-of-vss-evasion-persistence-and-active-directory-database-extraction/
    - https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/credential-access-and-credential-dumping/ntds.dit-enumeration
    - https://medium.com/@cyberjyot/lolbin-execution-via-diskshadow-f6ff681a27a4
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskshadow
    - https://www.lifars.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GriefRansomware_Whitepaper-2.pdf
    - https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/technical-analysis-crytox-ransomware
    - https://research.checkpoint.com/2022/evilplayout-attack-against-irans-state-broadcaster/
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-05-15
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        ParentImage|endswith: '\diskshadow.exe'
        Image|endswith:
            - '\certutil.exe'
            - '\cscript.exe'
            - '\mshta.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
            - '\pwsh.exe'
            - '\regsvr32.exe'
            - '\rundll32.exe'
            - '\wscript.exe'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium