huntrule

Windows: Renamed Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey.exe Execution

Flags Windows executions of renamed Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe to help spot LOLBIN-style abuse.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2023-04-11
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

  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 identifies process executions where the original file name matches Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe but the running binary name indicates it has been renamed. Attackers can abuse renamed binaries as living-off-the-land style execution paths to blend in with legitimate developer tooling. Telemetry relies on Windows process creation fields for the image path and the OriginalFileName value reported by the file metadata.

Reporting behind it

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Windows: Renamed Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey.exe Execution
Pivot detection · T1218 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.