huntrule

Windows: User Added to Highly Privileged Local/Directory Groups via net.exe or Add-LocalGroupMember

Flags net.exe or PowerShell commands adding users to privileged groups like Group Policy Creator Owners or Schema Admins.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2024-02-23
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies process execution where a user is added to highly privileged groups, specifically “Group Policy Creator Owners” or “Schema Admins,” using either net.exe with localgroup /add or PowerShell’s Add-LocalGroupMember. Adding users to these groups can enable privilege escalation and persistence by granting elevated permissions. It relies on Windows process creation telemetry with command-line arguments to match the relevant add-to-group patterns.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1098 — drag to rearrange
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Suspicious Guest Account Privilege Escalation (via process_creation)
Suspicious Login Shell Assigned to Service Account games on Linux
Suspicious dMSA Object Access with Migration AccessMask
Windows HackTool Execution: GoldenDMSA.exe Launch with Directory Manipulation Parameters
Suspicious Compute Instance Metadata Modification in GCP
Windows: User Added to Highly Privileged Local/Directory Groups via net.exe or Add-LocalGroupMember
Pivot detection · T1098 · 9 related

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