Windows Process Access Indicates Potential Shellcode Injection via LSASS

Alerts on high-privilege process access from wmiprvse.exe to lsass.exe consistent with potential shellcode injection behavior.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v7

Product: windows
Category: process_access
Author: Bhabesh Raj (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2022-03-11
Updated: 2026-09-15

Analysis Detection

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1055Process Injection
Defense Evasion
- T1055Process Injection
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows process access events where the caller requests specific GrantedAccess values that are consistent with potential shellcode injection behavior, with a CallTrace containing 'UNKNOWN'. It excludes several known benign process relationships, including interactions involving Wbem Wmiprvse.exe to lsass.exe and certain Dell, Visual Studio, Avira, or service shell scenarios. Telemetry relies on process access auditing that includes GrantedAccess, SourceImage, TargetImage, and CallTrace.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1055 — drag to rearrange

Malicious AddInProcess32 Network Beacon on PureRAT C2 Ports

Suspicious Payload Staging in ProgramData IntelDriver Folder (via file_event)

Possible DarkGate Process Injection via iTunesHelper Spawning vbc.exe

Suspicious PowerShell Shellcode Loader via Function Pointer Delegate

Suspicious Named Pipe Created by Kazuar Backdoor for Interprocess Command Channel

Suspicious SmallTiger Backdoor DLL Load via Image Load

Suspicious svchost Execution With Anomalous Arguments via DeedRAT (via process_creation)

Suspicious Sang Loader Execution with Install or PassUAC Arguments

Suspicious GodRAT Shellcode Injection via Puppet Argument (via process_creation)

Windows Process Access Indicates Potential Shellcode Injection via LSASS

Pivot detection · T1055 · 9 related

Changelog

v7
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-09-15
v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
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-process-access-with-high-grantedaccess-to-wmi-provider-and-lsass-250ae82f

title: Windows Process Access Indicates Potential Shellcode Injection via LSASS
id: f07d0001-9fd8-410d-9419-a5f0b9788428
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows process access events where the caller requests specific GrantedAccess values that are consistent with potential shellcode injection behavior, with a CallTrace containing 'UNKNOWN'. It excludes several known benign process relationships, including interactions involving Wbem Wmiprvse.exe to lsass.exe and certain Dell, Visual Studio, Avira, or service shell scenarios. Telemetry relies on process access auditing that includes GrantedAccess, SourceImage, TargetImage, and CallTrace.
references:
  - https://github.com/EmpireProject/PSInject
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules-threat-hunting/windows/process_access/proc_access_win_susp_potential_shellcode_injection.yml
author: Bhabesh Raj, Huntrule Team
date: 2022-03-11
modified: 2026-09-15
tags:
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1055
  - detection.threat-hunting
logsource:
  category: process_access
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    GrantedAccess:
      - "0x147a"
      - "0x1f3fff"
    CallTrace|contains: UNKNOWN
  filter_main_wmiprvse:
    SourceImage: C:\Windows\System32\Wbem\Wmiprvse.exe
    TargetImage: C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe
  filter_optional_dell_folders:
    SourceImage|startswith:
      - C:\Program Files\Dell\
      - C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\
    TargetImage|startswith:
      - C:\Program Files\Dell\
      - C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\
  filter_optional_dell_specifc:
    SourceImage: C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\UpdateService\ServiceShell.exe
    TargetImage: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
  filter_optional_visual_studio:
    SourceImage|startswith: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\
    TargetImage|startswith: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\
  filter_optional_avira:
    SourceImage|contains: \Avira
    TargetImage|contains: \Avira\
  condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 250ae82f-736e-4844-a68b-0b5e8cc887da
    type: derived

Convert

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

SplunkSPL