Suspicious Execution of Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey Renamed (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious Execution of Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey Renamed (via process_creation)
id: d21dddb4-910a-5015-9381-804a4c7bdb60
status: stable
description: This rule detects renamed execution of "Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe", that can be misused as a LOLBIN to execute arbitrary binaries
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/
    - https://twitter.com/mrd0x/status/1463526834918854661
    - https://gist.github.com/nasbench/a989ce64cefa8081bd50cf6ad8c491b5
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-01-10
tags:
    - attack.execution
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1218
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        OriginalFileName: 'Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe'
    filter_main_legit_name:
        Image|endswith: '\Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium