Windows: Suspicious PowerShell Interactive History Files Created as SYSTEM

Alerts on creation of PowerShell interactive history/profile files under SYSTEM, signaling privileged PowerShell activity.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Category: file_event
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-12-07
Updated: 2026-07-31

Analysis Detection

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies creation of specific PowerShell-related files that indicate interactive PowerShell activity running in the SYSTEM user context. Attackers often use SYSTEM privileges to increase impact, and interactive PowerShell can be used to stage or execute additional actions. The detection relies on Windows file creation events for the two targeted filesystem paths associated with PowerShell history and an interactive StartupProfile data file under the SYSTEM profile.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Script Interpreter Spawned by Explorer via ClickFix Run Dialog (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Download Cradle via ClickFix Fake CAPTCHA (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell EncodedCommand Spawned From Command Shell via Process Creation

Suspicious Script Download via Curl and PowerShell by Dohdoor

Malicious Mass Hyper-V Virtual Machine Shutdown via PowerShell by Kraken Ransomware

Suspicious PowerShell WebClient DownloadFile of Archive Payload (UAT-7237)

Suspicious SharePoint Worker Process Spawning Command Interpreter via ToolShell

Malicious Emmenhtal JavaScript Loader Spawning Encoded PowerShell

Suspicious Python Interpreter Launching Encoded PowerShell via subprocess

Windows: Suspicious PowerShell Interactive History Files Created as SYSTEM

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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

windows-file-writes-indicating-interactive-powershell-history-as-system-5b40a734

title: "Windows: Suspicious PowerShell Interactive History Files Created as SYSTEM"
id: 38db6d55-7ba0-47dc-b791-2b7b58efb027
status: test
description: This rule identifies creation of specific PowerShell-related files that indicate interactive PowerShell activity running in the SYSTEM user context. Attackers often use SYSTEM privileges to increase impact, and interactive PowerShell can be used to stage or execute additional actions. The detection relies on Windows file creation events for the two targeted filesystem paths associated with PowerShell history and an interactive StartupProfile data file under the SYSTEM profile.
references:
  - https://jpcertcc.github.io/ToolAnalysisResultSheet/details/PowerSploit_Invoke-Mimikatz.htm
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/file/file_event/file_event_win_susp_system_interactive_powershell.yml
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2021-12-07
modified: 2022-08-13
tags:
  - attack.execution
  - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: file_event
detection:
  selection:
    TargetFilename:
      - C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt
      - C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\StartupProfileData-Interactive
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Administrative activity
  - PowerShell scripts running as SYSTEM user
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 5b40a734-99b6-4b98-a1d0-1cea51a08ab2
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

SplunkSPL