Windows sdclt.exe Child Process Creation

Alerts when sdclt.exe launches a child process, a behavior consistent with abused Windows binaries in escalation chains.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1

Product: windows
Category: process_creation
Author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2026-07-30

Analysis Detection

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 events where the parent process is sdclt.exe. Attackers may abuse sdclt.exe to spawn additional processes as part of privilege escalation workflows or to execute actions under the context of a trusted Windows binary. The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry that includes the parent process image path.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1548.002 — drag to rearrange

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

Suspicious Banana RAT UAC Skip Environment Variable in PowerShell

Malicious UAC Bypass via sdclt Handler Hijack (via registry_set)

Malicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Handler Hijack (via registry_set)

Malicious DBatLoader DLL Sideloading via easinvoker.exe Loading netutils.dll (via image_load)

Suspicious dllhost.exe Spawned with CLSID and Anomalous Parent (via process_creation)

Malicious ms-settings DelegateExecute UAC Bypass Registry Change

Malicious User Account Control Bypass via Auto-Elevating Binary Hijack (via process_creation)

Suspicious Mock Trusted Directory with Trailing Space (via process_creation)

Windows sdclt.exe Child Process Creation

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-sdclt-exe-child-process-creation-da2738f2

title: Windows sdclt.exe Child Process Creation
id: f8f039e7-f728-4c9a-94b1-4209872c026c
status: test
description: This rule flags process creation events where the parent process is sdclt.exe. Attackers may abuse sdclt.exe to spawn additional processes as part of privilege escalation workflows or to execute actions under the context of a trusted Windows binary. The detection relies on Windows process creation telemetry that includes the parent process image path.
references:
  - https://github.com/OTRF/detection-hackathon-apt29/issues/6
  - https://github.com/OTRF/ThreatHunter-Playbook/blob/2d4257f630f4c9770f78d0c1df059f891ffc3fec/docs/evals/apt29/detections/3.B.2_C36B49B5-DF58-4A34-9FE9-56189B9DEFEA.md
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_sdclt_child_process.yml
author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research), Huntrule Team
date: 2020-05-02
modified: 2021-11-27
tags:
  - attack.privilege-escalation
  - attack.t1548.002
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    ParentImage|endswith: \sdclt.exe
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: da2738f2-fadb-4394-afa7-0a0674885afa
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

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