huntrule

Windows PowerShell via sqltoolsps.exe (sqltoolsps.exe child process exclusion)

Flags suspicious sqltoolsps.exe executions that may launch PowerShell, excluding cases where smss.exe spawned the utility.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Agro (@agro_sev) oscd.communitly (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-10-13
Updated
2026-07-30
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 identifies executions of sqltoolsps.exe where the process is started directly and is not created by smss.exe. Attackers can use sqltoolsps.exe as a PowerShell execution path, which may evade protections that depend on PowerShell script block logging. It relies on Windows process creation telemetry, matching the executable path and parent process relationships to determine the execution context.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange
PowerShell Execution via sqlps.exe (Windows Process Creation)
Malicious Interlock RAT FileFix Download-Cradle via PowerShell WebClient with PowerShell User-Agent (via ps_script)
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 PowerShell via sqltoolsps.exe (sqltoolsps.exe child process exclusion)
Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

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