Ceplin Command Identifier

Identifier / Programs / Windows

vshadow.exe

VShadow, Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Sample Requestor file version info (xCyclopedia)

LOLBAS Execute 1 Sigma rule name it 1 ATT&CK technique 1 documented command 3 known copies with hashes

Opens the identifier with your command. It is read in your browser and sent nowhere.

How vshadow.exe is abused

documented by LOLBAS

Execute T1202 Indirect Command Execution

-nw
-exec

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

1 documented command

from LOLBAS, each read by the identifier

Execute T1202 Indirect Command Execution Administrator privileges

Executes specified executable from vshadow.exe.

vshadow.exe -nw -exec={PATH_ABSOLUTE:.exe} C:
Identify

Trips 1 Sigma rule: mediumProxy Execution via Vshadow by David Faiss

The command the identifier reads trips a Sigma process-creation rule. These commands and their descriptions are from LOLBAS’s entry for vshadow.exe, by Ayberk Halaç, 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 vshadow.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
T1202Indirect Command Execution

Is it the real vshadow.exe?

file version info and known copies
Installed inC:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\arm64\
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x64\
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x86\
Signed byMicrosoft Corporation
ProductVShadow, Microsoft Corporation
DescriptionVShadow, Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Sample Requestor

3 known copies

10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x64\vshadow.exe · signed by Microsoft Corporation

436efb1d6574fa0dab562c938c074ba38ff0ff938884690cfd0293182bc395b5

10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\arm64\vshadow.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows Kits Publisher

6546e380ea44c1e2966a2c27c2afcd6cb549abcb56ccfa9b0db15ddf075a7f13

10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.19041.0\x86\vshadow.exe · signed by Microsoft Corporation

ca6da10cebf8fb80bec9d501eaed55860fb7dad7e3e4079d7bed8e6523c87142

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.