Windows whoami.exe Privilege Enumeration Using /priv Flag
Alerts on whoami.exe runs with /priv or -priv to enumerate current user privileges.
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- Florian Roth (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2021-05-05
- Updated
- 2026-07-30
ATT&CK techniques
DiscoveryRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule flags execution of whoami.exe where the command line includes the /priv or -priv flag to display all current user privileges. Attackers commonly run this after privilege escalation attempts to confirm the effective privilege set available to the current context. It relies on Windows process creation telemetry capturing the executable identity (whoami.exe) and the full command line arguments.
Reporting behind it
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
title: Windows whoami.exe Privilege Enumeration Using /priv Flag
id: 453d9de2-55fc-4c20-928c-6623999278ef
status: test
description: This rule flags execution of whoami.exe where the command line includes the /priv or -priv flag to display all current user privileges. Attackers commonly run this after privilege escalation attempts to confirm the effective privilege set available to the current context. It relies on Windows process creation telemetry capturing the executable identity (whoami.exe) and the full command line arguments.
references:
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/whoami
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_whoami_priv_discovery.yml
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2021-05-05
modified: 2023-02-28
tags:
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.discovery
- attack.t1033
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection_img:
- Image|endswith: \whoami.exe
- OriginalFileName: whoami.exe
selection_cli:
CommandLine|contains:
- " /priv"
- " -priv"
condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
- Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
- id: 97a80ec7-0e2f-4d05-9ef4-65760e634f6b
type: derived