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Atomic Red Team
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T1057

T1057 - Process Discovery

Description from ATT&CK (opens in a new tab)

Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system. Information obtained could be used to gain an understanding of common software/applications running on systems within the network. Administrator or otherwise elevated access may provide better process details. Adversaries may use the information from Process Discovery (opens in a new tab) during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions.

In Windows environments, adversaries could obtain details on running processes using the Tasklist (opens in a new tab) utility via cmd (opens in a new tab) or Get-Process via PowerShell (opens in a new tab). Information about processes can also be extracted from the output of Native API (opens in a new tab) calls such as CreateToolhelp32Snapshot. In Mac and Linux, this is accomplished with the ps command. Adversaries may also opt to enumerate processes via /proc. ESXi also supports use of the ps command, as well as esxcli system process list.(Citation: Sygnia ESXi Ransomware 2025)(Citation: Crowdstrike Hypervisor Jackpotting Pt 2 2021)

On network devices, Network Device CLI (opens in a new tab) commands such as show processes can be used to display current running processes.(Citation: US-CERT-TA18-106A)(Citation: show_processes_cisco_cmd)

Atomic Tests


Atomic Test #1 - Process Discovery - ps

Utilize ps to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, sh will execute ps and output to /tmp/loot.txt.

Supported Platforms: Linux, macOS

auto_generated_guid: 4ff64f0b-aaf2-4866-b39d-38d9791407cc

Inputs:

NameDescriptionTypeDefault Value
output_filepath of output filepath/tmp/loot.txt

Attack Commands: Run with sh!

ps >> #{output_file}
ps aux >> #{output_file}

Cleanup Commands:

rm #{output_file}


Atomic Test #2 - Process Discovery - tasklist

Utilize tasklist to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, cmd.exe will execute tasklist.exe to list processes. Output will be via stdout.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: c5806a4f-62b8-4900-980b-c7ec004e9908

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt!

tasklist


Atomic Test #3 - Process Discovery - Get-Process

Utilize Get-Process PowerShell cmdlet to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, powershell.exe will execute Get-Process to list processes. Output will be via stdout.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: 3b3809b6-a54b-4f5b-8aff-cb51f2e97b34

Attack Commands: Run with powershell!

Get-Process


Atomic Test #4 - Process Discovery - get-wmiObject

Utilize get-wmiObject PowerShell cmdlet to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, powershell.exe will execute get-wmiObject to list processes. Output will be via stdout.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: b51239b4-0129-474f-a2b4-70f855b9f2c2

Attack Commands: Run with powershell!

get-wmiObject -class Win32_Process


Atomic Test #5 - Process Discovery - wmic process

Utilize windows management instrumentation to identify processes.

Upon successful execution, WMIC will execute process to list processes. Output will be via stdout.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: 640cbf6d-659b-498b-ba53-f6dd1a1cc02c

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt!

wmic process get /format:list


Atomic Test #6 - Discover Specific Process - tasklist

Adversaries may use command line tools to discover specific processes in preparation of further attacks. Examples of this could be discovering the PID of lsass.exe to dump its memory or discovering whether specific security processes (e.g. AV or EDR) are running.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: 11ba69ee-902e-4a0f-b3b6-418aed7d7ddb

Inputs:

NameDescriptionTypeDefault Value
process_to_enumerateProcess name string to search for.stringlsass

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt!

tasklist | findstr #{process_to_enumerate}


Atomic Test #7 - Process Discovery - Process Hacker

Process Hacker can be exploited to infiltrate system processes, identify weak points, or achieve unauthorized control over systems. However, its malicious use can often be flagged by security defenses, rendering it a perilous tool for illegitimate purposes.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: 966f4c16-1925-4d9b-8ce0-01334ee0867d

Inputs:

NameDescriptionTypeDefault Value
processhacker_exeProcess hacker installation executables.stringProcessHacker.exe

Attack Commands: Run with powershell! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

Start-Process -FilePath "$Env:ProgramFiles\Process Hacker 2\#{processhacker_exe}"

Dependencies: Run with powershell!

Description: Process Hacker must be installed in the location
Check Prereq Commands:
if (Test-Path "c:\Program Files\Process Hacker 2\#{processhacker_exe}") {exit 0} else {exit 1}
Get Prereq Commands:
Write-Host Downloading Process Hacker
New-Item -Type Directory "C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\" -ErrorAction Ignore -Force | Out-Null
Invoke-WebRequest "https://versaweb.dl.sourceforge.net/project/processhacker/processhacker2/processhacker-2.39-setup.exe" -OutFile "C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\processhacker-2.39-setup.exe"
Write-Host Installing Process Hacker
Start-Process "c:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\processhacker-2.39-setup.exe" -Wait -ArgumentList "/s"


Atomic Test #8 - Process Discovery - PC Hunter

PC Hunter is a toolkit with access to hundreds of settings including kernels, kernel modules, processes, network, startup, and more. When abused, this tool can allow threat actors to effectively access sensitive processes, collect system information, and terminate security software.

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: b4ca838d-d013-4461-bf2c-f7132617b409

Inputs:

NameDescriptionTypeDefault Value
pchunter64_exeProcess hacker installation executables.stringPChunter64.exe

Attack Commands: Run with powershell! Elevation Required (e.g. root or admin)

Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\PCHunter_free\#{pchunter64_exe}"

Dependencies: Run with powershell!

Description: PCHunter must be present in device
Check Prereq Commands:
if (Get-ChildItem -Path C:\ -Include *PCHunter64* -File -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {exit 0} else {exit 1}
Get Prereq Commands:
Write-Host Downloading PC Hunter
New-Item -Type Directory "C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\" -ErrorAction Ignore -Force | Out-Null
Invoke-WebRequest "https://www.snapfiles.com/directdl/PCHunter_free.zip" -OutFile "C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\PCHunter_free.zip"
Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads\PCHunter_free.zip' -DestinationPath C:\Temp\ExternalPayloads
Write-Host Unzipping Installing Process Hunter


Atomic Test #9 - Launch Taskmgr from cmd to View running processes

An adverary may launch taskmgr.exe with the /7 switch via command prompt to view processes running on the system. Reference (opens in a new tab)

Supported Platforms: Windows

auto_generated_guid: 4fd35378-39aa-481e-b7c4-e3bf49375c67

Attack Commands: Run with command_prompt!

taskmgr.exe /7

T1056.004T1059