huntrule

Windows Process Creation: Detect Covenant PowerShell Launcher Command Lines

Identifies Windows PowerShell command lines commonly used by Covenant launchers, including hidden/encoded execution patterns.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Jonhnathan Ribeiro, oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-06-04
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → 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 flags Windows process creation events with PowerShell command-line arguments commonly seen in Covenant launchers, including flags such as -Sta, -Nop, and Hidden windowing. It also matches specific chained behaviors like using -Command/-EncodedCommand along with patterns that reference IO.MemoryStream staging and mshta file.hta fetching with encoded payload fragments. The detection relies on detailed process command-line telemetry to identify suspicious execution characteristics rather than the executable name alone.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Script Host Spawning Hidden PowerShell (via process_creation)
PowerShell Launch With --headless From Conhost.exe on Windows
Malicious Metasploit Stager Delivery via mshta Remote HTA (via process_creation)
Suspicious PowerShell Download of Disguised Payload to ProgramData
Suspicious PowerShell WebClient Download of Executable Payload
Malicious Script Host Spawning PowerShell in Gootloader Chain
Suspicious PsExec Service Launching Encoded PowerShell Payload
Suspicious PowerShell Remote Script Execution via IEX DownloadString
Malicious SharePoint ToolShell Post-Exploitation via Encoded PowerShell (via process_creation)
Windows Process Creation: Detect Covenant PowerShell Launcher Command Lines
Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. 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.