Suspicious Execution of PIF File as AutoIt Loader

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1055.012Process Hollowing
Defense Evasion
- T1055.012Process Hollowing
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of a process image with the .pif extension, an abuse observed in a Lumma infostealer campaign where a renamed AutoIt3 interpreter named Riding.pif performed process hollowing to inject the stealer. It captures the use of an uncommon executable extension to disguise a script interpreter. Detecting this is important because .pif files launching as active processes are almost never legitimate on modern systems and frequently indicate masqueraded loader activity.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1055.012 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious csc.exe Spawned by Document Reader for Process Injection

Suspicious RegAsm Execution Spawned by Script Host for Process Hollowing (via process_creation)

Suspicious .NET Utility Launched as Process Injection Target (via process_creation)

Suspicious Execution of PIF File as AutoIt Loader

Pivot detection · T1055.012 · 9 related

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

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