Suspicious Svchost Masquerade Execution from Non-System Path

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-16
Updated
2026-10-16

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a process named svchost.exe running from a directory outside the Windows System32 or SysWOW64 folders. NCC Group observed the Rclone exfiltration binary renamed to svchost.exe to blend in with legitimate host processes. Attackers rename tooling to trusted system binary names to evade analyst review and simple name based defenses.

Related detections9 linkedT1036.005 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Vidar Payload Execution from AI-Themed DeepSeek Lure Path
Malicious Sapphire Sleet LaunchDaemon Masquerading as Google WebKit Service (via file_event)
Malicious UNC1549 OneDrive-Masquerading Run Key Persistence (via registry_set)
Suspicious macOS LaunchDaemon Masquerading as Apple System Updater
Malicious G DATA Avk.exe Masquerading From Public Folder via PlugX (via process_creation)
Suspicious OfficeUpdate.exe Masquerading Word Binary From ProgramData (via process_creation)
Malicious Head Mare Run Key Persistence Masquerading as MicrosoftUpdate
Suspicious wermgr Execution Outside System Directories via process_creation
Suspicious Python Execution of Fake Sysmon Script From Config Directory
Suspicious Svchost Masquerade Execution from Non-System Path
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.