Identifier / Programs / Windows
vssadmin.exe
Shows current volume shadow copy backups and all installed shadow copy writers and providers. Windows commands reference
LOLBAS Tamper 5 Sigma rules name it 1 ATT&CK technique 1 documented command 8 known copies with hashes
How vssadmin.exe is abused
Tamper T1490 Inhibit System Recovery
delete shadows
/allDeletes all of the specified volume's shadow copies. Windows commands reference/quietSpecifies that the command won't display messages while running. Windows commands referenceEach abuse is LOLBAS's category and the options and words it uses; the full write-up is on LOLBAS's page for vssadmin.exe.
1 documented command
Tamper T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Administrator privileges
Delete all volume shadow copies on the host without prompting
vssadmin delete shadows /all /quietTrips 1 Sigma rule: highShadow Copies Deletion Using Operating Systems Utilities by Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Michael Haag, Teymur Kheirkhabarov, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community, Andreas Hunkeler (@Karneades)
The command the identifier reads trips a Sigma process-creation rule. These commands and their descriptions are from LOLBAS’s entry for vssadmin.exe, by mmadersbacher, 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 vssadmin.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
Is it the real vssadmin.exe?
C:\Windows\system32\C:\Windows\SysWOW64\8 known copies
10.0.22000.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\system32\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
4858a31c974f3b4ee0400357d9811ba40cc1cd6ed8c6fb2765a32a2e0921903210.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\system32\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
8c1fabcc2196e4d096b7d155837c5f699ad7f55edbf84571e4f8e03500b7a8b010.0.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\WINDOWS\system32\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
acdcc96d628ee8ff7f07fc5d795a05c22eb239be0d44a9f01727b6124a9619a910.0.17763.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) · C:\Windows\system32\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
d7577fb88cca3169c7931dc0d8ec9a444227dc14f6c71d6d39d86a0c5cad197610.0.14393.0 (rs1_release.160715-1616) · C:\Windows\system32\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
4fe71eb779b57354e5600dc31e3dc1875adc8a06663654aec83f11109751e8fc10.0.14393.0 (rs1_release.160715-1616) · C:\Windows\SysWOW64\vssadmin.exe · signed by Microsoft Windows
8a597914c4481c7c78936e0e581107a96c5ad02f7353e12d0666f330ca89f0516.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623) · C:\windows\system32\vssadmin.exe · not signed
af08da2358d55665fae06ae694129b5f3778989e93f5f369e0b594e1a2bc521e6.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623) · C:\windows\SysWOW64\vssadmin.exe · not signed
ea45bfbe5aace1f1bf9184ee4053ababb82538449df7f9b1b73f62eb1a5741b2From 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.