Suspicious WMI Persistence - Script Event Consumer (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious WMI Persistence - Script Event Consumer (via process_creation)
id: 1c7dac49-e2e2-5f95-9b0e-7caca0723fe6
status: stable
description: This rule detects the execution of a script event consumer. When scrcons.exe launches, it does so in response to the creation of an ActiveScriptEventConsumer instance and will execute registered JScript or VBScript code as a result. Script event consumers are a built-in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class that automatically runs a predefined script (in VBScript or JScript) whenever a specific system event occurs. Adversaries frequently misuse script event consumers to maintain persistence on a compromised host by running a hostile script whenever a specific event occurs.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/003/
    - https://redcanary.com/blog/threat-detection/child-processes/
    - https://www.eideon.com/2018-03-02-THL03-WMIBackdoors/
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-05-24
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.t1546.003
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\scrcons.exe
        ParentImage: C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium