Suspicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Edge Update Running as SYSTEM via schtasks

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-08-12
Updated
2026-08-28

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 creation of a scheduled task that masquerades as a Microsoft Edge update while running as SYSTEM. This technique was observed in a DLL hijacking campaign analyzed by Kaspersky where attackers created a task named \Microsoft\Windows\Edge\Edgeupdates to gain persistent SYSTEM-level execution. Abusing a legitimate-looking task name in the wrong namespace lets an adversary blend malicious persistence with benign updater activity.

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Suspicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Edge Update Running as SYSTEM via schtasks
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.