huntrule

Windows: Detect Fodhelper.exe spawned processes indicative of UAC bypass

Flags process creation where the parent is Fodhelper.exe, a common UAC bypass execution pattern on Windows.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
E.M. Anhaus (originally from Atomic Blue Detections, Tony Lambert), oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2019-10-24
Updated
2026-07-30
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 identifies process executions where the parent image ends with \"\fodhelper.exe\". It matters because using Fodhelper.exe in this manner can be part of an attempt to bypass User Account Control and run commands with elevated privileges. Telemetry relies on Windows process creation records that include ParentImage.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1548.002 — drag to rearrange
Malicious FodHelper UAC Bypass via ms-settings Shell Command Hijack (via registry_set)
Suspicious Banana RAT UAC Skip Environment Variable in PowerShell
Malicious UAC Bypass via sdclt Handler Hijack (via registry_set)
Malicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Handler Hijack (via registry_set)
Malicious DBatLoader DLL Sideloading via easinvoker.exe Loading netutils.dll (via image_load)
Suspicious dllhost.exe Spawned with CLSID and Anomalous Parent (via process_creation)
Malicious ms-settings DelegateExecute UAC Bypass Registry Change
Malicious User Account Control Bypass via Auto-Elevating Binary Hijack (via process_creation)
Suspicious Mock Trusted Directory with Trailing Space (via process_creation)
Windows: Detect Fodhelper.exe spawned processes indicative of UAC bypass
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.