Suspicious sha256sum.exe Execution from Windows Temp Directory

ATT&CK techniques

Impact

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
- T1485Data Destruction
- T1561.002Disk Structure Wipe

What it detects

This rule detects a binary named sha256sum.exe executing from C:\Windows\Temp, the masqueraded filename PathWiper used for its wiper component. A legitimate-sounding hashing utility running from Windows Temp rather than a standard install location is the destructive payload disguised to evade casual inspection before it overwrites NTFS structures.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1485 — drag to rearrange

Malicious PathWiper Loader Script Execution from Windows Temp via WScript

Suspicious Free Space Wipe via cipher.exe

Suspicious Secure Deletion of Free Space via Cipher (via process_creation)

HamsaUpdate Wiper Trigger via F5UPDATER ConfirmDeleteFiles Argument (via process_creation)

Malicious Scheduled Task Deploying DYNOWIPER Payload (via process_creation)

Malicious Mini Shai-Hulud TanStack Destructive rm Killswitch (via process_creation)

Malicious S3 Object Encryption with Customer Provided Key via CopyObject

Malicious Cloud Storage Destruction by Cloud Build Service Account

Suspicious Quick Format of Drive with Auto-Confirmation

Suspicious sha256sum.exe Execution from Windows Temp Directory

Pivot detection · T1485 · 9 related

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

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →