Suspicious Python Runtime Executed from ProgramData

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-22
Updated
2026-09-22

ATT&CK techniques

Execution
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Persistence

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the windowless Python interpreter executing from within ProgramData, a technique RansomHub affiliates used after unpacking a portable Python archive to run tooling and scheduled tasks. A pythonw.exe process running from ProgramData rather than a standard installation directory is abnormal and often indicates attacker-deployed scripting.

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Pivot detection · T1059.006 · 9 related

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