colorcpl.exe

Microsoft Color Control Panel file version info (xCyclopedia)

LOLBAS Copy 1 ATT&CK technique 1 documented command 12 known copies with hashes

How colorcpl.exe is abused

documented by LOLBAS

Copy T1036.005 Masquerading: Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location

Each abuse is LOLBAS's category and the options and words it uses; the full write-up is on LOLBAS's page for colorcpl.exe.

1 documented command

from LOLBAS, each read by the identifier

Copy T1036.005 Masquerading: Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location User privileges

Copies the referenced file to C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\.

colorcpl {PATH}

Identify

The command the identifier reads trips no Sigma process-creation rule. These commands and their descriptions are from LOLBAS’s entry for colorcpl.exe, by Arjan Onwezen, at commit 2056cb766250 of 2026-09-26, under the GPL-3.0 and LOLBAS’s notice, with no warranty. Changed: Markdown is shown formatted. The source is in lolbas-gtfobins-commands.json.gz, and the full entry is on LOLBAS’s page for colorcpl.exe. The identifier reads it with LOLBAS’s placeholders filled in: a URL as https://example.com/file, a share as \\192.0.2.10\share\file, a path as C:\Data\file and a command as calc.exe.

What detects it

Sigma process creation rules

T1036.005Masquerading: Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location

Is it the real colorcpl.exe?

file version info and known copies

Installed inC:\Windows\system32\
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\

Signed byMicrosoft Windows

ProductMicrosoft Windows Operating System, Microsoft Corporation

DescriptionMicrosoft Color Control Panel

12 known copies

10.0.22000.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

3c096bb603419b91de0b599ecc98aa617d973f7ebba6217cf6e55cddaaed0b22

10.0.22000.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\system32\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

4da82a191ccdeb14123557f07f499ea7a39bf9f31f53fea096fa574da8c6ad1b

10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

2e5e0b8fe1c6a6314145e404c46acc4ff227ad63d0f2765d5458d0c4cb80c110

10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\system32\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

86c19bc9523fb84eef1a18af66aced909c32fedbad9988397a8367a836bbb2e0

10.0.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

0714e7857e1b05eb73ddf8afec026150bfccbd507060f6af13d32f7c056a3539

10.0.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\system32\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

4da630079f51a5290c2b478d9179d1f4dfeb9b3ae14298244b48c4c00c73e83c

10.0.17763.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

4fecea309763cba5109b644c4db5da4e17cb69e0772aabd00716aada14ef9b2f

10.0.17763.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\system32\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

c57cb5e7b90f921fb9c6f4992513d58941397f7adbb03acdfac1e36e7e763a31

10.0.14393.0 (rs1_release.160715-1616) · C:\Windows\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

92cbd88228c8b4fa208de3cee4d36bb468935742508ce9fbf7b2aa3f657b96c5

10.0.14393.0 (rs1_release.160715-1616) · C:\Windows\system32\colorcpl.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows

afc126088e3292d6455584222b70822d3a1af397f48ef6982834a03ed181863d

6.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623) · C:\windows\system32\colorcpl.exe · not signed

6b547da69a199df7fcf8d8070dccd5e95abfcaaca33bbf31249c84d22934369c

6.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623) · C:\windows\SysWOW64\colorcpl.exe · not signed

81ee15c4666d73420333bace26971f9df60178f2694951b2e56c36df572551c7

From the file’s version info and the copies recorded by xCyclopedia (MIT). A copy in another folder, signed by someone else or with another hash is not necessarily malicious, but it is worth a closer look. In Ceplin, "<sha256>".whatis() says which known copy a hash is.