Suspicious CustomShellHost Execution

calendar Nov 10, 2025 · attack.defense-evasion attack.t1216  ·
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Detects the execution of CustomShellHost.exe where the child isn't located in 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'. CustomShellHost is a known LOLBin that can be abused by attackers for defense evasion techniques.

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: Suspicious CustomShellHost Execution
 2id: 84b14121-9d14-416e-800b-f3b829c5a14d
 3status: test
 4description: |
 5        Detects the execution of CustomShellHost.exe where the child isn't located in 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'. CustomShellHost is a known LOLBin that can be abused by attackers for defense evasion techniques.
 6references:
 7    - https://github.com/LOLBAS-Project/LOLBAS/pull/180
 8    - https://lolbas-project.github.io/lolbas/Binaries/CustomShellHost/
 9author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
10date: 2022-08-19
11modified: 2025-10-29
12tags:
13    - attack.defense-evasion
14    - attack.t1216
15logsource:
16    category: process_creation
17    product: windows
18detection:
19    selection:
20        ParentImage|endswith: '\CustomShellHost.exe'
21    filter_main_explorer:
22        Image: 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe'
23    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
24falsepositives:
25    - False positives are unlikely, investigate matches carefully.
26level: high

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