Suspicious Scheduled Task CacheTask Reconfigured to Run as SYSTEM

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-28
Updated
2026-10-28

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Defense Evasion

  5. Cred Access

  6. Discovery

  7. Lateral Movement

  8. Collection

  9. C2

  10. Exfiltration

  11. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects schtasks.exe changing the CacheTask scheduled task to run a payload as SYSTEM, an abuse of a masqueraded Wininet task used by Play ransomware operators for privileged execution and persistence.

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Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation with ClickFix Update Recon Name (via process_creation)
Malicious Scheduled Task Named Gentlemen via Schtasks
Malicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Defender NisSrv via Schtasks
Suspicious Scheduled Task CacheTask Reconfigured to Run as SYSTEM
Pivot detection · T1053.005 · 9 related

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