Suspicious Lateral Movement via Invoke-WMIExec or Invoke-SMBExec (via ps_script)

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1550.002Pass the Hash
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1550.002Pass the Hash
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell use of the Invoke-WMIExec or Invoke-SMBExec pass-the-hash tooling observed alongside the ThrottleStop AV-killer intrusion. These functions authenticate to remote hosts with an NTLM hash and run commands such as local account creation without a plaintext password. Their presence indicates hands-on lateral movement using stolen credential material.

Reporting behind it

Related detections6 linkedT1550.002 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Registry Modification Disabling RestrictedAdmin Mode (via process_creation)

Windows LsaSrv Events Indicating NTLMv1 Logon Between Client and Server

Windows Pass-the-Hash Activity via Security Event 4624 (LogonType 3 or 9)

Windows NTLM authentication events (Event ID 8002)

Windows Successful Logon Type 9 (NewCredentials) Matching Overpass-the-Hash

Windows Security: Detects RULER workstation using NTLM and login events (Event IDs 4776, 4624/4625)

Suspicious Lateral Movement via Invoke-WMIExec or Invoke-SMBExec (via ps_script)

Pivot detection · T1550.002 · 6 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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