Windows Process Injection Remote Thread

name: Windows Process Injection Remote Thread
id: 8a618ade-ca8f-4d04-b972-2d526ba59924
version: 11
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: |
    The following analytic detects suspicious remote thread execution in processes such as Taskmgr.exe, calc.exe, and notepad.exe, which may indicate process injection by malware like Qakbot. This detection leverages Sysmon EventCode 8 to identify remote thread creation in specific target processes. This activity is significant as it often signifies an attempt by malware to inject malicious code into legitimate processes, potentially leading to unauthorized code execution. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or maintain persistence on the compromised host.
data_source:
    - Sysmon EventID 8
search: |-
    `sysmon`
    EventCode=8
    TargetImage IN (
        "*\\calc.exe",
        "*\\CalculatorApp.exe",
        "*\\cmd.exe",
        "*\\dxdiag.exe",
        "*\\explorer.exe",
        "*\\mobsync.exe",
        "*\\msra.exe",
        "*\\notepad.exe",
        "*\\OneDriveSetup.exe",
        "*\\ping.exe",
        "*\\powershell.exe",
        "*\\rdpclip.exe",
        "*\\Taskmgr.exe",
        "*\\wermgr.exe",
        "*\\win32calc.exe",
        "*\\xwizard.exe"
    )
    | stats count min(_time) as firstTime
                  max(_time) as lastTime
    by EventID Guid NewThreadId ProcessID SecurityID SourceImage
       SourceProcessGuid SourceProcessId StartAddress StartFunction
       StartModule TargetImage TargetProcessGuid TargetProcessId UserID
       dest parent_process_exec parent_process_guid parent_process_id
       parent_process_name parent_process_path process_exec process_guid
       process_id process_name process_path signature signature_id
       user_id vendor_product

    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `windows_process_injection_remote_thread_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you must be ingesting data that records process activity from your hosts like remote thread EventCode=8 of sysmon. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA.
known_false_positives: No false positives have been identified at this time.
references:
    - https://twitter.com/pr0xylife/status/1585612370441031680?s=46&t=Dc3CJi4AnM-8rNoacLbScg
    - https://thedfirreport.com/2023/06/12/a-truly-graceful-wipe-out/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: process $SourceImage$ created a remote thread in target process $TargetImage$ on host $dest$
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: SourceImage
          type: process
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Qakbot
        - Graceful Wipe Out Attack
        - Warzone RAT
        - Earth Alux
        - Water Gamayun
    asset_type: Endpoint
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1055.002
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/malware/qakbot/qbot_wermgr2/sysmon_wermgr2.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog