Windows: Renamed Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey.exe Execution
Flags Windows executions of renamed Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe to help spot LOLBIN-style abuse.
- 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
ATT&CK techniques
Defense EvasionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
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
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
title: "Windows: Renamed Visual Studio NodejsTools PressAnyKey.exe Execution"
id: 745982ec-2796-400d-af94-66f7580f9310
related:
- id: a20391f8-76fb-437b-abc0-dba2df1952c6
type: similar
- id: 65c3ca2c-525f-4ced-968e-246a713d164f
type: derived
status: test
description: 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.
references:
- https://twitter.com/mrd0x/status/1463526834918854661
- https://gist.github.com/nasbench/a989ce64cefa8081bd50cf6ad8c491b5
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_renamed_pressanykey.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2023-04-11
tags:
- attack.execution
- attack.stealth
- attack.t1218
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
OriginalFileName: Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe
filter_main_legit_name:
Image|endswith: \Microsoft.NodejsTools.PressAnyKey.exe
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
- Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1