huntrule

Windows Process Command Line Containing Whoami as First Parameter

Flags Windows process creations with command lines containing '.exe whoami' to surface potential discovery behavior.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-11-29
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

  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 newly created Windows processes whose command line includes a pattern where '.exe whoami' appears, indicating that whoami is being passed as the first parameter to an executable. Such usage can be part of discovery or local reconnaissance by attempting to determine the current security context. It relies on process creation telemetry, specifically the full command line recorded at process start time.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1033 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Whoami Discovery Spawned by Windows Script Host via Process Creation (via process_creation)
Suspicious Localized Administrator Account and Group Enumeration After Citrix Bleed Exploitation
Malicious Recon Output Staged in Qlik Sense Fonts Directory by Cactus Ransomware
Suspicious Host Reconnaissance Command Chain via cmd
Malicious Child Process Spawned From n8n Node Process
Suspicious Credential Enumeration via cmdkey List
Suspicious IIS Worker Process Spawning Whoami Reconnaissance
Suspicious Whoami Execution With Output Redirected to a File (via process_creation)
Possible Logged-On Session Discovery via Quser or Qwinsta (via process_creation)
Windows Process Command Line Containing Whoami as First Parameter
Pivot detection · T1033 · 9 related

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