Windows: Indirect execution of pcwrun.exe using path traversal-style command line content

Detects pcwrun.exe spawning with '../' in the command line, indicating potential indirect execution abuse.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Category: process_creation
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2022-06-13
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1218System Binary Proxy Execution
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies process creation where the executable name ends with pcwrun.exe and the command line contains '../', indicating indirect or crafted execution behavior. Attackers may abuse Program Compatibility Assistant components to execute actions through unexpected command-line arguments. Telemetry relies on Windows process creation events capturing the image path and full command line.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1218 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious .NET LOLBin Execution via CasPol or RegAsm

Possible DarkGate DLL Sideloading via iTunesHelper Loading CoreFoundation

Suspicious extrac32 CAB Extraction Abuse

Malicious cdb.exe Masquerading as fontdrvhost in ProgramData (via process_creation)

Malicious certutil Decodehex Payload Reconstruction by DarkGate

Malicious MSIX Package Execution via App Installer ms-appinstaller Protocol (via process_creation)

Malicious ViPNet Backdoor Loader via lumpdiag.exe Path Substitution

Suspicious BitLockerToGo Execution from Unusual Parent

Suspicious Proxy Execution via pcalua

Windows: Indirect execution of pcwrun.exe using path traversal-style command line content

Pivot detection · T1218 · 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-pcwrun-exe-indirect-command-execution-via-path-traversal-6004abd0

title: "Windows: Indirect execution of pcwrun.exe using path traversal-style command line content"
id: 0fd819ba-dd2e-4457-b377-66c29671dd02
status: test
description: This rule identifies process creation where the executable name ends with pcwrun.exe and the command line contains '../', indicating indirect or crafted execution behavior. Attackers may abuse Program Compatibility Assistant components to execute actions through unexpected command-line arguments. Telemetry relies on Windows process creation events capturing the image path and full command line.
references:
  - https://twitter.com/nas_bench/status/1535663791362519040
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolbin_pcwrun_follina.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2022-06-13
tags:
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1218
  - attack.execution
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    Image|endswith: \pcwrun.exe
    CommandLine|contains: ../
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unlikely
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 6004abd0-afa4-4557-ba90-49d172e0a299
    type: derived

Convert

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

SplunkSPL