Exploiting SetupComplete.cmd CVE-2019-1378

SigmaHQ Detections@sigmaHQ

•updated Oct 23, 2025•0•21

This rule detects exploitation attempts of the privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2019-1378. The vulnerability involves the Windows 10 Update Assistant (WUA) executing `SetupComplete.cmd` or `PartnerSetupComplete.cmd` with elevated privileges. An attacker can place a malicious script in `C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\` which will then be executed by `cmd.exe` during the update process, leading to privilege escalation. The rule specifically looks for `cmd.exe` being the parent process, executing a command line that contains `C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\` and ends with either `SetupComplete.cmd` or `PartnerSetupComplete.cmd`, while filtering out legitimate system processes that might also execute commands from these directories.