Uncommon Print Spooler Exploitation Spawning a Child Process (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the print spooler service (spoolsv.exe) spawning a command shell, script interpreter or a process from a user-writable path, behavior consistent with PrintNightmare-style spooler exploitation for code execution or privilege escalation. Print spooler abuse is a privilege-escalation technique noted in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting anomalous spooler children surfaces exploitation of the service.

Reporting behind it

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Uncommon Print Spooler Exploitation Spawning a Child Process (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1068 · 9 related

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

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