Suspicious Encoded PowerShell Execution with No Profile

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 PowerShell launched with the -noprofile flag alongside an encoded command argument, the launcher pattern seen delivering the FORMBOOK payload dllhostSvc.exe. Combining profile suppression with base64-encoded commands is a common obfuscation used to hide the downloaded second stage.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

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Windows: Alert on Suspicious HH.EXE Process Execution

Windows PowerShell Remote Thread Creation Into Uncommon Target Processes

Suspicious PowerShell Encoded Command Execution

Malicious WARMCOOKIE Loader Execution via rundll32 RtlUpd via process_creation

Suspicious PowerShell BITS Transfer of DLL Payload via process_creation

Malicious Masquerading TiWorker Spawning PowerShell Downloader via process_creation

Suspicious Script Host Spawning PowerShell via Process Creation

Suspicious Encoded PowerShell Execution with No Profile

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.

Full detection rule

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