Suspicious File Download via CertUtil URLCache (via process_creation)

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-30
Updated
2026-10-30

ATT&CK techniques

C2
  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. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects certutil.exe used with URL cache flags to download a remote payload over HTTP. Following ActiveMQ exploitation the operators used CertUtil as a living-off-the-land downloader to stage tooling. Abuse of this signed utility bypasses application controls that trust native binaries.

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Suspicious File Download via CertUtil URLCache (via process_creation)
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Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.