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Windows Process Creation: svchost DHCPServer RCE Exploitation Attempt

Alerts on svchost.exe running as Network Service with -k DHCPServer, suggesting a potential pre-auth Windows RCE attempt.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v5
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2023-01-21
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access

  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

Flags process creation where both the parent and the spawned process are svchost.exe and the command lines include "-k DHCPServer". This targets suspicious pre-auth remote code execution style exploitation behavior involving the Windows DHCPServer service hosted by svchost under the Network Service account. The rule relies on process creation telemetry including Image, ParentImage, command line arguments, and the user identity.

Reporting behind it

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Windows Process Creation: svchost DHCPServer RCE Exploitation Attempt
Pivot detection · T1190 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
  1. v5
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  5. 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.