PowerShell Suspicious Discovery of Local Groups via Get-LocalGroup Cmdlets

Flags PowerShell commands that enumerate local groups and group membership, including WMI/CIM queries for Win32 group data.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v2

Product: windows
Category: ps_script
Author: frack113 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-12-12
Updated: 2026-07-31

Analysis Detection

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1069.001Local Groups
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags PowerShell script block activity used to enumerate local groups and their members by matching calls to get-localgroup and get-localgroupmember. It matters because attackers often perform local permission discovery to identify which built-in groups exist and which accounts belong to them. The detection relies on Script Block Logging telemetry containing the executed PowerShell commands.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1069.001 — drag to rearrange

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Windows Process Creation: Suspicious PowerShell Commandlets Used by Known Exploitation Tools

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PowerShell Module: Get-SmbShare Used for SMB Share Discovery

PowerShell module enumeration of AD principals via get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership

PowerShell ScriptBlock Enumeration of AD Group Membership and User Attributes (Windows)

Windows PowerShell: Query SMB Shares via Get-SmbShare

PowerShell Suspicious Discovery of Local Groups via Get-LocalGroup Cmdlets

Pivot detection · T1069.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

powershell-suspicious-local-group-discovery-via-get-localgroup-and-get-localgrou-fa6a5a45

title: PowerShell Suspicious Discovery of Local Groups via Get-LocalGroup Cmdlets
id: 2636e1fc-f5e5-4964-93ae-b24a1c630049
related:
  - id: cef24b90-dddc-4ae1-a09a-8764872f69fc
    type: similar
  - id: fa6a5a45-3ee2-4529-aa14-ee5edc9e29cb
    type: derived
status: test
description: This rule flags PowerShell script block activity used to enumerate local groups and their members by matching calls to get-localgroup and get-localgroupmember. It matters because attackers often perform local permission discovery to identify which built-in groups exist and which accounts belong to them. The detection relies on Script Block Logging telemetry containing the executed PowerShell commands.
references:
  - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1069.001/T1069.001.md
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/powershell/powershell_script/posh_ps_susp_local_group_reco.yml
author: frack113, Huntrule Team
date: 2021-12-12
modified: 2025-08-22
tags:
  - attack.discovery
  - attack.t1069.001
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: ps_script
  definition: "Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled"
detection:
  selection_localgroup:
    ScriptBlockText|contains:
      - "get-localgroup "
      - "get-localgroupmember "
  selection_wmi_module:
    ScriptBlockText|contains:
      - "get-wmiobject "
      - "gwmi "
      - "get-ciminstance "
      - "gcim "
  selection_wmi_class:
    ScriptBlockText|contains: win32_group
  condition: selection_localgroup or all of selection_wmi_*
falsepositives:
  - Inventory scripts or admin tasks
level: low
license: DRL-1.1

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