Suspicious Executable Running from PerfLogs Directory

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-20
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

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 detects execution of a binary from the Windows PerfLogs directory which ransomware operators use as a staging location for tooling. Observed in NCC Group research into active ransomware families dropping a min.exe binary into the PerfLogs directory. Execution from PerfLogs is highly abnormal which makes it a useful indicator of stager or tooling activity.

Related detections9 linkedT1036 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Cobalt Strike OCSP Malleable C2 Profile Traffic
Suspicious Spoofed Microsoft Host Header C2 by Stately Taurus
Suspicious Double Extension Image Executable by Fighting Ursa
Malicious Lotus Wiper Masqueraded Binary Execution from lotus Directory (via process_creation)
Suspicious Tusk Loader Execution from AppData AD_Security Directory
Suspicious OneDrive Masquerading TLB Marker File in ProgramData
Suspicious Svchost Execution from Non-Services Parent
Suspicious Executable Launched from PerfLogs Directory by Estate Ransomware
Malicious Renamed Python Interpreter svchostc Executing Script (via process_creation)
Suspicious Executable Running from PerfLogs Directory
Pivot detection · T1036 · 9 related

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