Detection: Windows PaperCut NG Spawn Shell

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: a602d9a2-aaea-45f8-bf0f-d851168d61ca Author: Michael Haag, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects instances where the PaperCut NG application (pc-app.exe) spawns a Windows shell, such as cmd.exe or PowerShell. This behavior is identified using Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) telemetry, focusing on process creation events where the parent process is pc-app.exe. This activity is significant as it may indicate an attacker attempting to gain unauthorized access or execute malicious commands on the system. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized code execution, privilege escalation, or further compromise of the affected environment.

Search

 1
 2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Processes
 3  WHERE Processes.parent_process_name=pc-app.exe `process_cmd`
 4    OR
 5    `process_powershell`
 6    OR
 7    Processes.process_name=java.exe
 8  BY Processes.action Processes.dest Processes.original_file_name
 9     Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_exec Processes.parent_process_guid
10     Processes.parent_process_id Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process_path
11     Processes.process Processes.process_exec Processes.process_guid
12     Processes.process_hash Processes.process_id Processes.process_integrity_level
13     Processes.process_name Processes.process_path Processes.user
14     Processes.user_id Processes.vendor_product
15
16| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)`
17
18| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
19
20| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
21
22| `windows_papercut_ng_spawn_shell_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
CrowdStrike ProcessRollup2	Other	`'crowdstrike:events:sensor'`	`'crowdstrike'`
Sysmon EventID 1	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational'`
Windows Event Log Security 4688	Windows	`'XmlWinEventLog'`	`'XmlWinEventLog:Security'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
process_cmd	`(Processes.process_name=cmd.exe OR Processes.original_file_name=Cmd.Exe)`
windows_papercut_ng_spawn_shell_filter	`search *`

windows_papercut_ng_spawn_shell_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1059	Command and Scripting Interpreter	Execution
T1133	External Remote Services	Initial Access
T1190	Exploit Public-Facing Application	Persistence

Installation

Delivery

DE.CM

CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

The detection is based on data that originates from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) agents. These agents are designed to provide security-related telemetry from the endpoints where the agent is installed. To implement this search, you must ingest logs that contain the process GUID, process name, and parent process. Additionally, you must ingest complete command-line executions. These logs must be processed using the appropriate Splunk Technology Add-ons that are specific to the EDR product. The logs must also be mapped to the Processes node of the Endpoint data model. Use the Splunk Common Information Model (CIM) to normalize the field names and speed up the data modeling process.

Known False Positives

False positives may be present, but most likely not. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
The PaperCut NG application has spawned a shell $process_name$ on endpoint $dest$ by $user$.	user	user	50

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
The PaperCut NG application has spawned a shell $process_name$ on endpoint $dest$ by $user$.	dest	system	50

Threat Objects

Field	Type
process_name	process_name

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational`	`XmlWinEventLog`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 13