Elastic Security Detection Rules

Renamed Utility Executed with Short Program Name

Last updated 9 days ago on 2025-05-05
Created 4 years ago on 2020-11-15

About

Identifies the execution of a process with a single character process name, differing from the original file name. This is often done by adversaries while staging, executing temporary utilities, or trying to bypass security detections based on the process name.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointLanguage: eql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Masquerading (T1036)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*endgame-*logs-m365_defender.event-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and length(process.name) > 0 and
 length(process.name) == 5 and length(process.pe.original_file_name) > 5

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Renamed Utility Executed with Short Program Name in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).