Suspicious Outbound Connection from tracerpt.exe after Process Hollowing (via network_connection)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
network_connection
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-20
Updated
2026-09-20

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the trace report utility tracerpt.exe initiating outbound network traffic, a behavior produced when the Winos4.0 loader hollows this System32 binary and beacons to command and control. The genuine tracerpt tool parses local event logs and does not communicate over the network. Any external connection from tracerpt indicates injected code and staging traffic.

Related detections9 linkedT1055.012 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious DotNet Utility Spawned by Script Host for Process Hollowing via Command Line
Suspicious Outbound Network Connection from msiexec.exe (via network_connection)
Suspicious AddInProcess32 Outbound Connection after Process Hollowing
Suspicious microsoftedgeupdatecore Outbound Connection from Wrong Path
Suspicious RegAsm or AppLaunch Outbound Connection after Injection
Suspicious DotNet Utility MSBuild RegAsm RegSvcs Network Beacon Indicating Hollowing
Suspicious SearchProtocolHost Network Connection Indicating Process Hollowing
Suspicious Network Connection from fsutil or Defender Client via network_connection
Suspicious Execution of Dotnet Injection Target Utilities
Suspicious Outbound Connection from tracerpt.exe after Process Hollowing (via network_connection)
Pivot detection · T1055.012 · 9 related

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