Suspicious Indirect Command Execution via Pcalua for UAC Bypass

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Defense Evasion
- T1218System Binary Proxy Execution
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects use of the Program Compatibility Assistant pcalua to indirectly launch a command which the Lazarus chain used to bypass user account control and break parent child process lineage as documented by NCC Group. Attackers proxy execution through pcalua to evade detections that key on direct parent processes.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Indirect Command Execution via Pcalua for UAC Bypass

Pivot detection · T1218 · 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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