Windows Service Control Manager: HackTool Service Installation or Start via Suspicious Service Names

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1569.002Service Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies Windows service creation and subsequent service state changes by the Service Control Manager when the service name matches known credential-dumping or bypass-related strings. Attackers often register services to run malicious code as a background process with elevated privileges, helping them persist or execute tooling. It relies on Windows System service telemetry, specifically events tied to Service Control Manager activity (7045 and 7036) and matching service name substrings and an ImagePath indicator containing 'bypass'.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1569.002 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Lateral Movement via PsExec Service (via process_creation)

Windows Service Control Manager: HackTool Service Installation or Start via Suspicious Service Names

Pivot detection · T1569.002 · 9 related

Changelog

v2

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-service-control-manager-hacktool-service-registration-or-execution-d26ce60c

title: "Windows Service Control Manager: HackTool Service Installation or Start via Suspicious Service Names"
id: 7db675a5-265e-46e1-89fe-d7786b6b3ac3
status: test
description: This rule identifies Windows service creation and subsequent service state changes by the Service Control Manager when the service name matches known credential-dumping or bypass-related strings. Attackers often register services to run malicious code as a background process with elevated privileges, helping them persist or execute tooling. It relies on Windows System service telemetry, specifically events tied to Service Control Manager activity (7045 and 7036) and matching service name substrings and an ImagePath indicator containing 'bypass'.
references:
  - Internal Research
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/builtin/system/service_control_manager/win_system_service_install_hacktools.yml
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2022-03-21
modified: 2023-08-07
tags:
  - attack.execution
  - attack.t1569.002
  - attack.s0029
logsource:
  product: windows
  service: system
detection:
  selection_eid:
    Provider_Name: Service Control Manager
    EventID:
      - 7045
      - 7036
  selection_service_name:
    ServiceName|contains:
      - cachedump
      - DumpSvc
      - gsecdump
      - pwdump
      - UACBypassedService
      - WCE SERVICE
      - WCESERVICE
      - winexesvc
  selection_service_image:
    ImagePath|contains: bypass
  condition: selection_eid and 1 of selection_service_*
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: d26ce60c-2151-403c-9a42-49420d87b5e4
    type: derived

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