Windows Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) Spawns Suspicious Child Processes

Alerts when eventvwr.exe spawns unusual child processes in Windows process creation logs.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Category: process_creation
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Defense Evasion
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows process creation events where eventvwr.exe is the parent of a child process, excluding a small set of common benign children (mmc.exe and WerFault.exe variants). Attackers may abuse Event Viewer execution to proxy or initiate other tools as part of privilege escalation attempts. The detection relies on process creation telemetry containing parent and child image paths so the parent can be identified as eventvwr.exe.

Reporting behind it

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Windows Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) Spawns Suspicious Child Processes

Pivot detection · T1548.002 · 9 related

Changelog

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-creation-suspicious-child-processes-spawned-by-eventvwr-exe-be344333

title: Windows Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) Spawns Suspicious Child Processes
id: 1e123aef-b49d-4b83-ad14-36aa39e35d8a
related:
  - id: 7c81fec3-1c1d-43b0-996a-46753041b1b6
    type: derived
  - id: be344333-921d-4c4d-8bb8-e584cf584780
    type: derived
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows process creation events where eventvwr.exe is the parent of a child process, excluding a small set of common benign children (mmc.exe and WerFault.exe variants). Attackers may abuse Event Viewer execution to proxy or initiate other tools as part of privilege escalation attempts. The detection relies on process creation telemetry containing parent and child image paths so the parent can be identified as eventvwr.exe.
references:
  - https://enigma0x3.net/2016/08/15/fileless-uac-bypass-using-eventvwr-exe-and-registry-hijacking/
  - https://www.hybrid-analysis.com/sample/e122bc8bf291f15cab182a5d2d27b8db1e7019e4e96bb5cdbd1dfe7446f3f51f?environmentId=100
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_eventvwr_susp_child_process.yml
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2017-03-19
modified: 2023-09-28
tags:
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.t1548.002
  - car.2019-04-001
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: \eventvwr.exe
  filter_main_generic:
    Image|endswith:
      - :\Windows\System32\mmc.exe
      - :\Windows\System32\WerFault.exe
      - :\Windows\SysWOW64\WerFault.exe
  condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1

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