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 .NET Utility Spawned by Script Host for Process Hollowing
Suspicious MSBuild Spawned by PowerShell (via process_creation)
Suspicious RegSvcs Execution Spawned by Script Interpreter for Process Hollowing (via process_creation)
Suspicious MSBuild Execution Spawned by PowerShell via PhantomVAI Loader (via process_creation)
Suspicious Rundll32 Loading Non-DLL Image Extension File
Suspicious MSBuild Execution Spawned by Command Shell for Process Hollowing (via process_creation)
Malicious Desktop Window Manager Impersonation From Non-System Path via process_creation
Suspicious .NET Utility Spawned by AutoHotkey Loader for Process Hollowing (via process_creation)
Suspicious csc.exe Spawned by Document Reader for Process Injection
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.