huntrule

Suspicious UAC Bypass via Fodhelper Child Process

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-11
Updated
2026-08-28
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects fodhelper.exe spawning a child process, the hallmark of the ms-settings protocol handler UAC bypass used by BQTLock to elevate before injecting Remcos into explorer.exe. Fodhelper does not normally launch child processes outside of Settings interactions.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1548.002 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious UAC Bypass by Disabling Admin Consent Prompt via registry_set
Malicious Cloud Atlas UAC Bypass via fodhelper (via process_creation)
Suspicious computerdefaults.exe Spawning Child Process
Suspicious UAC Bypass via control.exe App Paths or Shell Open Command Hijack
Malicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)
Suspicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)
Malicious UAC Bypass via explorer.exe NOUACCHECK Argument
Suspicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Shell Command Hijack (via registry_set)
Suspicious UAC Weakening via ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin Disable by Winos (via registry_set)
Suspicious UAC Bypass via Fodhelper Child Process
Pivot detection · T1548.002 · 9 related

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