Suspicious Tasklist Discovery Command

A Sigma rule for process creation on Windows, from SigmaHQ’s threat hunting rules, by frack113.

informational 1 ATT&CK technique 2 programs it names 11 everyday examples trip it

What it looks for

its detection, as SigmaHQ writes it

detection:
  selection:
    - CommandLine|contains: 'tasklist'
    - Image|endswith: '\tasklist.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'tasklist.exe'
  condition: selection

The rule’s detection, its selections and fields in order of name. The whole rule, with its references and false positives, is on SigmaHQ, by frack113, under the Detection Rule License 1.1. CmdID evaluates it on a command line alone: a test on what a command line cannot show, such as the parent process or the user, is not met.

Command lines that trip it

everyday examples from tldr-pages, CC BY 4.0, each read by CmdID

To list all tasks with a process ID greater than 1000, and display them in csv format, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /v /fi "PID gt 1000" /fo csvIdentify

To list the system processes that are currently running, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /fi "USERNAME ne NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" /fi "STATUS eq running"Identify

To list detailed information for all processes that are currently running, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /v /fi "STATUS eq running"Identify

To list all the service information for processes on the remote computer srvmain, which has a DLL name beginning with ntdll, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /s srvmain /svc /fi "MODULES eq ntdll*"Identify

To list the processes on the remote computer srvmain, using the credentials of your currently logged-on user account, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /s srvmainIdentify

To list the processes on the remote computer srvmain, using the credentials of the user account Hiropln, type on the page for tasklist

tasklist /s srvmain /u maindom\hiropln /p p@ssW23Identify

Display currently running processes on the page for tasklist

tasklistIdentify

Display running processes in a specified output format on the page for tasklist

tasklist /fo tableIdentify

Display running processes using the specified .exe or .dll file name on the page for tasklist

tasklist /m module_patternIdentify

Display processes running on a remote machine on the page for tasklist

tasklist /s remote_name /u username /p passwordIdentify

Display services using each process on the page for tasklist

tasklist /svcIdentify

Programs and files it names

their pages here

tasklisttasklist.exe

ATT&CK

the techniques it is tagged with

T1057Process Discovery

Suspicious Tasklist Discovery Command

What it looks for

Command lines that trip it

Programs and files it names

ATT&CK

Other rules for T1057 Process Discovery