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Windows Process Creation: whoami.exe Executed With /all for Full Identity Enumeration

Detects Windows executions of whoami.exe using the /all flag to enumerate full identity details.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2023-12-04
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 flags execution of whoami.exe when invoked with the /all argument, which returns comprehensive local user and system identity information. Attackers commonly use this output for discovery and to tailor follow-on actions based on the compromised environment. The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry, specifically the executable identity (path or OriginalFileName) and the command line containing the /all flag.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1033 — drag to rearrange
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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 Creation: whoami.exe Executed With /all for Full Identity Enumeration
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.