Windows Network Access Suspicious desktop.ini Action

calendar Oct 23, 2025 · attack.privilege-escalation attack.persistence attack.t1547.009  ·
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Detects unusual processes accessing desktop.ini remotely over network share, which can be leveraged to alter how Explorer displays a folder's content (i.e. renaming files) without changing them on disk.

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 1title: Windows Network Access Suspicious desktop.ini Action
 2id: 35bc7e28-ee6b-492f-ab04-da58fcf6402e
 3status: test
 4description: Detects unusual processes accessing desktop.ini remotely over network share, which can be leveraged to alter how Explorer displays a folder's content (i.e. renaming files) without changing them on disk.
 5references:
 6    - https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Desktopini+as+a+postexploitation+tool/25912/
 7author: Tim Shelton (HAWK.IO)
 8date: 2021-12-06
 9modified: 2022-01-16
10tags:
11    - attack.privilege-escalation
12    - attack.persistence
13    - attack.t1547.009
14logsource:
15    product: windows
16    service: security
17detection:
18    selection:
19        EventID: 5145
20        ObjectType: File
21        RelativeTargetName|endswith: '\desktop.ini'
22        AccessList|contains:
23            - 'WriteData'
24            - 'DELETE'
25            - 'WriteDAC'
26            - 'AppendData'
27            - 'AddSubdirectory'
28    condition: selection
29falsepositives:
30    - Read only access list authority
31level: medium

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