sigmamediumHunting

PUA - Process Hacker Execution

Detects the execution of Process Hacker based on binary metadata information (Image, Hash, Imphash, etc). Process Hacker is a tool to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level options. Threat actors abused older vulnerable versions to manipulate system processes.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1622 T1564 T1543

defense-evasiondiscoverypersistenceprivilege-escalation

Detection Query

selection:
  - Image|contains: \ProcessHacker_
  - Image|endswith: \ProcessHacker.exe
  - OriginalFileName:
      - ProcessHacker.exe
      - Process Hacker
  - Description: Process Hacker
  - Product: Process Hacker
  - Hashes|contains:
      - MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D
      - MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71
      - SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D
      - SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E
      - SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F
      - SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4
      - IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462
      - IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF
condition: selection

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Created

2022-10-10

Data Sources

windowsProcess Creation Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.discoveryattack.persistenceattack.privilege-escalationattack.t1622attack.t1564attack.t1543

Raw Content

title: PUA - Process Hacker Execution
id: 811e0002-b13b-4a15-9d00-a613fce66e42
related:
    - id: 5722dff1-4bdd-4949-86ab-fbaf707e767a
      type: similar
status: test
description: |
    Detects the execution of Process Hacker based on binary metadata information (Image, Hash, Imphash, etc).
    Process Hacker is a tool to view and manipulate processes, kernel options and other low level options.
    Threat actors abused older vulnerable versions to manipulate system processes.
references:
    - https://processhacker.sourceforge.io/
    - https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/falcon-overwatch-report-finds-increase-in-ecrime/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2022-10-10
modified: 2024-11-23
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.discovery
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.t1622
    - attack.t1564
    - attack.t1543
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        - Image|contains: '\ProcessHacker_'
        - Image|endswith: '\ProcessHacker.exe'
        - OriginalFileName:
              - 'ProcessHacker.exe'
              - 'Process Hacker'
        - Description: 'Process Hacker'
        - Product: 'Process Hacker'
        - Hashes|contains:
              - 'MD5=68F9B52895F4D34E74112F3129B3B00D'
              - 'MD5=B365AF317AE730A67C936F21432B9C71'
              - 'SHA1=A0BDFAC3CE1880B32FF9B696458327CE352E3B1D'
              - 'SHA1=C5E2018BF7C0F314FED4FD7FE7E69FA2E648359E'
              - 'SHA256=D4A0FE56316A2C45B9BA9AC1005363309A3EDC7ACF9E4DF64D326A0FF273E80F'
              - 'SHA256=BD2C2CF0631D881ED382817AFCCE2B093F4E412FFB170A719E2762F250ABFEA4'
              - 'IMPHASH=3695333C60DEDECDCAFF1590409AA462'
              - 'IMPHASH=04DE0AD9C37EB7BD52043D2ECAC958DF'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - While sometimes 'Process Hacker is used by legitimate administrators, the execution of Process Hacker must be investigated and allowed on a case by case basis
level: medium