Suspicious Print Filter Pipeline Host Running Outside System32 via Process Creation

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the print filter pipeline host binary printfilterpipelinesvc executing from any path other than System32 which reflects a WinSxS directory masquerade used by an in the wild Windows local privilege escalation exploit to run code under a trusted system process name. The legitimate binary only runs from System32 so execution elsewhere signals a masquerade.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Print Filter Pipeline Host Running Outside System32 via Process Creation

Pivot detection · T1036.005 · 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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