Suspicious Execution of PUA - Sysinternals Utilities - Registry (via registry_set)

title: Suspicious Execution of PUA - Sysinternals Utilities - Registry (via registry_set)
id: 97c72958-53a0-5fb5-a75b-cfabbe490aab
status: stable
description: This rule detects the execution of some potentially unwanted tools such as PsExec, Procdump, etc. (part of the Sysinternals suite) via the creation of the "accepteula" registry key.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1588/002/
    - https://twitter.com/Moti_B/status/1008587936735035392
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-01-26
tags:
    - attack.resource-development
    - attack.t1588.002
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: registry_set
detection:
    selection:
        TargetObject|contains:
            - '\Active Directory Explorer'
            - '\Handle'
            - '\LiveKd'
            - '\Process Explorer'
            - '\ProcDump'
            - '\PsExec'
            - '\PsLoglist'
            - '\PsPasswd'
            - '\SDelete'
            - '\Sysinternals'
        TargetObject|endswith: '\EulaAccepted'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_pua_sysinternals_susp_execution_via_eula/info.yml