Suspicious PowerShell Masquerading as Windows Terminal via process_creation

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036.003Rename Legitimate Utilities
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a process whose original file name is PowerShell but which executes under the wt.exe Windows Terminal file name. The axios supply chain payload renamed powershell.exe to wt.exe to evade name-based detection, so a mismatch between the internal PowerShell identity and a wt.exe image name indicates a masqueraded interpreter.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious PowerShell Masquerading as Windows Terminal via process_creation

Pivot detection · T1036.003 · 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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