huntrule

PowerShell Execution via sqlps.exe (Windows Process Creation)

Flags sqlps.exe process launches consistent with PowerShell execution on Windows, excluding common sqlagent.exe-driven cases.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Agro (@agro_sev) oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-10-10
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies PowerShell execution activity that uses sqlps.exe, a utility shipped with MSSQL Server. Attackers may use sqlps.exe to run PowerShell in a context where script-block logging is not captured, helping bypass defenses that rely on those logs. The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry, matching sqlps.exe by image and parent process name, and excluding cases where sqlps.exe is spawned by sqlagent.exe.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange
Windows PowerShell via sqltoolsps.exe (sqltoolsps.exe child process exclusion)
Suspicious PowerShell Remote Download and Execution via Invoke-WebRequest
Suspicious Script Host Spawning Hidden PowerShell (via process_creation)
Suspicious PowerShell Reflective Assembly Load With GZip Decompression (via process_creation)
Suspicious PowerShell Invoke-Expression with Replace Obfuscation
Suspicious PowerShell Archive Extraction to AppData Roaming
Malicious PowerShell Spawned by Masqueraded NVIDIA GeForce Experience Binary
Suspicious PowerShell Hidden Unrestricted Execution via ClickFix
Suspicious PowerShell Spawned by cscript in Script Chain
PowerShell Execution via sqlps.exe (Windows 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.