Windows: WinRM inbound network connections to ports 5985/5986 for PowerShell remoting

Alerts on WinRM inbound connections (ports 5985/5986) consistent with remote PowerShell remoting activity.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2

Product: windows
Service: security
Author: Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows Security events indicating inbound network connections to WinRM ports 5985 (HTTP) or 5986 (HTTPS), consistent with PowerShell remoting over WinRM. Attackers may use remote PowerShell to execute commands on other hosts, so inbound WinRM connectivity can be a key step in lateral movement or remote execution. The detection relies on event 5156 with the correct filtering layer and destination port values in Windows Security telemetry.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Malicious Metasploit Stager Delivery via mshta Remote HTA (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Download of Disguised Payload to ProgramData

Suspicious PowerShell WebClient Download of Executable Payload

Malicious Script Host Spawning PowerShell in Gootloader Chain

Suspicious PsExec Service Launching Encoded PowerShell Payload

Suspicious PowerShell Remote Script Execution via IEX DownloadString

Malicious SharePoint ToolShell Post-Exploitation via Encoded PowerShell (via process_creation)

Suspicious In-Memory PowerShell Execution from Web Server via Automation Assembly (via image_load)

Malicious Qilin Chrome Credential Harvesting Script Execution via IPScanner (via process_creation)

Windows: WinRM inbound network connections to ports 5985/5986 for PowerShell remoting

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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

windows-security-log-detect-winrm-powershell-remoting-inbound-connections-on-598-13acf386

title: "Windows: WinRM inbound network connections to ports 5985/5986 for PowerShell remoting"
id: 58f6e173-dcca-414f-8e6a-467bf7747731
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows Security events indicating inbound network connections to WinRM ports 5985 (HTTP) or 5986 (HTTPS), consistent with PowerShell remoting over WinRM. Attackers may use remote PowerShell to execute commands on other hosts, so inbound WinRM connectivity can be a key step in lateral movement or remote execution. The detection relies on event 5156 with the correct filtering layer and destination port values in Windows Security telemetry.
references:
  - https://threathunterplaybook.com/hunts/windows/190511-RemotePwshExecution/notebook.html
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/builtin/security/win_security_remote_powershell_session.yml
author: Roberto Rodriguez @Cyb3rWard0g, Huntrule Team
date: 2019-09-12
modified: 2022-10-09
tags:
  - attack.execution
  - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
  product: windows
  service: security
detection:
  selection:
    EventID: 5156
    DestPort:
      - 5985
      - 5986
    LayerRTID: 44
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate use of remote PowerShell execution
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 13acf386-b8c6-4fe0-9a6e-c4756b974698
    type: derived

Convert

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

SplunkSPL