huntrule

Windows Process Creation: finger.exe Execution

Alerts on Windows executions of finger.exe, a legacy utility that may indicate suspicious reconnaissance or network activity.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), omkar72, oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-02-24
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

C2

  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 where the executed binary is finger.exe (matching OriginalFileName and the image path ending in \finger.exe). finger.exe is a legacy Windows utility and is uncommon in normal operations, so unexpected execution can indicate attacker staging or command-and-control activity. The detection relies on process creation telemetry, including image path and OriginalFileName fields.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Certutil Download and Certificate Installation via Living-off-the-Land
Suspicious PowerShell Remote Script Execution via IEX DownloadString
Windows Process Creation: finger.exe Execution
Pivot detection · T1105 · 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.