Windows Process Creation: UAC Bypass via winsat.exe Path Parsing

Alerts on elevated processes spawned by Temp-path winsat.exe with system32 winsat command-line content.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1

Product: windows
Category: process_creation
Author: Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-08-30
Updated: 2026-07-30

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 process creation where the parent process is winsat.exe launched from a Temp-based system32 path and the parent command line contains a Windows system32 winsat.exe reference. It also requires the resulting process to run with elevated integrity levels (High or System-related SIDs), which is consistent with privilege escalation attempts. Detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry including integrity level, parent image path, and parent command line content.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious UAC Bypass via control.exe App Paths or Shell Open Command Hijack

Malicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)

Suspicious UAC Bypass via COMAutoApprovalList Registry Modification (via registry_set)

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Suspicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Shell Command Hijack (via registry_set)

Windows Process Creation: UAC Bypass via winsat.exe Path Parsing

Pivot detection · T1548.002 · 9 related

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-uac-bypass-via-winsat-exe-path-parsing-7a01183d

title: "Windows Process Creation: UAC Bypass via winsat.exe Path Parsing"
id: 95f44408-469d-43b3-a90f-38782d75179a
status: test
description: This rule flags process creation where the parent process is winsat.exe launched from a Temp-based system32 path and the parent command line contains a Windows system32 winsat.exe reference. It also requires the resulting process to run with elevated integrity levels (High or System-related SIDs), which is consistent with privilege escalation attempts. Detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry including integrity level, parent image path, and parent command line content.
references:
  - https://github.com/hfiref0x/UACME
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_uac_bypass_winsat.yml
author: Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2021-08-30
modified: 2024-12-01
tags:
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.t1548.002
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    IntegrityLevel:
      - High
      - System
      - S-1-16-16384
      - S-1-16-12288
    ParentImage|endswith: \AppData\Local\Temp\system32\winsat.exe
    ParentCommandLine|contains: C:\Windows \system32\winsat.exe
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 7a01183d-71a2-46ad-ad5c-acd989ac1793
    type: derived

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