Suspicious Foxit PDF Reader Spawning Command Interpreter

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-01
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Execution
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects Foxit PDF Reader spawning a command interpreter, the exploitation behavior triggered by a crafted PDF using OpenAction and Launch. Foxit should not normally launch cmd or PowerShell so this parent child pair signals abuse of the flawed design. Detecting it catches the initial code execution from the malicious document.

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Pivot detection · T1204.002 · 9 related

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