Windows System: Service Control Manager PowerShell Obfuscation Using COMPRESS OBFUSCATION

Flags new Windows services whose ImagePath includes obfuscated PowerShell markers using COMPRESS/stream decompression.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v2

Product: windows
Service: system
Author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1027Obfuscated Files or Information
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies a Windows service creation attempt where the Service Control Manager launches PowerShell-like scripting indicators that include obfuscation and compression components. Attackers may use obfuscated command content to evade string-based detections and to package or decode payloads at execution time. The detection relies on System service control events (Event ID 7045) and inspects the registered ImagePath for specific PowerShell and .NET compression/stream reader substrings.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Non-Interactive Encoded PowerShell Stager (via process_creation)

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PowerShell Encoded or Download-Cradle Command Line (via process_creation)

Obfuscated Encoded PowerShell Payload Deployed - PowerShell (via powershell)

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Windows System: Service Control Manager PowerShell Obfuscation Using COMPRESS OBFUSCATION

Pivot detection · T1027 · 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-system-service-creation-of-obfuscated-powershell-using-compress-obfuscat-175997c5

title: "Windows System: Service Control Manager PowerShell Obfuscation Using COMPRESS OBFUSCATION"
id: 804e82d2-4506-4458-a3aa-bc6d43391d6f
status: test
description: This rule identifies a Windows service creation attempt where the Service Control Manager launches PowerShell-like scripting indicators that include obfuscation and compression components. Attackers may use obfuscated command content to evade string-based detections and to package or decode payloads at execution time. The detection relies on System service control events (Event ID 7045) and inspects the registered ImagePath for specific PowerShell and .NET compression/stream reader substrings.
references:
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/issues/1009
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/builtin/system/service_control_manager/win_system_invoke_obfuscation_via_compress_services.yml
author: Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community, Huntrule Team
date: 2020-10-18
modified: 2022-11-29
tags:
  - attack.stealth
  - attack.t1027
  - attack.execution
  - attack.t1059.001
logsource:
  product: windows
  service: system
detection:
  selection:
    Provider_Name: Service Control Manager
    EventID: 7045
    ImagePath|contains|all:
      - new-object
      - text.encoding]::ascii
      - readtoend
    ImagePath|contains:
      - :system.io.compression.deflatestream
      - system.io.streamreader
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 175997c5-803c-4b08-8bb0-70b099f47595
    type: derived

Convert

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