Headless Process Launched Via Conhost.EXE

    Date: 06/24/2025

    Severity: Medium

    Summary

    Detects the execution of a child process through "conhost.exe" using the "--headless" flag.  The "--headless" flag suppresses the display of any windows, keeping the process hidden from the user.

    Indicators of Compromise (IOC) List  

    ParentImage : 

    '\conhost.exe'

    ParentCommandLine : 

    '--headless'

    Gurucul Threat Detection and Incident Response (TDIR) Queries for Detection

    Detection Query : 

    resourcename like "Windows Security" and eventtype = "4688" and parentprocessname like "\conhost.exe" and parentcommandline like "--headless" 

    Detection Query :

    technologygroup = "EDR"  and parentprocessname like "\conhost.exe" and parentcommandline like "--headless" 

    Detection Query : 

    ((resourcename = "Sysmon"  AND eventtype = "1"  ) AND parentimage like "\conhost.exe"  ) AND parentcommandline = "--headless"

    Detection Query :

    ((technologygroup = "EDR" ) AND parentimage like "\conhost.exe"  ) AND parentcommandline = "--headless"

    Reference:

    https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules-threat-hunting/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_conhost_headless_execution.yml


    Tags

    SigmaHeadlessConhost.exe

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