findstr.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
FindStr (findstr.exe) searches for text patterns in files using literal strings or regular expressions. It is the more powerful counterpart to find.exe, supporting regex, recursive search, and multiple file matching.
findstr.exe is the 167th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 96,543 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by powershell.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System3298.96%
- C:\Windows\SysWOW641.04%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 95d90aeccb3439ae2460468d249b3034f55074564ee48647b07c283037acea5361.91%
- b39ef1855b0c96f67f855f6ab5a1f685b094d473d908ccabed487bc0374e400129.08%
- ccb8ecb9709d719850f0177362a3a8481e01310297e6a7b9181bada872288f134.34%
- 40f83ce0b6e1c894ab766591574abd5b6780028c874410f2ec224300df443c811.46%
- 7cb0f8324363f92357006f75167098f0ab23d5c3aaf07957d9f320dbf6cfd4601.06%
- 3a325a8337486df63a0ce02de757a5bc417fa7f9ab6f62d8f46b9be54766fc010.63%
- 2956f7bc863498dfcc868ce7df4c9c131a4a5c17b065658456afef7566ace1ee0.48%
- 940cbec6750076f2a191cbc8da96aae1905f7d9709b48c839bbd52884eff1a450.33%
- a9eca55b1e7e25459d98924fcfbf81a17351618ba1c2b88eed38027161de53540.17%
- 1900c48fdb1c2ddfa59c37ba86affa502d44af55f313d0d53fac60d9b96943b60.11%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- svchost.exe96.16%
- HealthService.exe1.52%
- runkbot.exe0.37%
- explorer.exe0.35%
- Asusgiftbox.exe0.2%
- RuntimeBroker.exe0.04%
- cmd.exe0.02%
- python.exe0.01%
- jumpcloud-agent.exe0.01%
Top Parents
- powershell.exe59.13%
- cmd.exe40.77%
- wsmprovhost.exe0.04%
- powershell_ise.exe0.01%
- conhost.exe<0.01%
- WmiPrvSE.exe<0.01%
Top Children
- conhost.exe100%
Security Analysis
What does findstr.exe normally do?
Located in C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\SysWOW64. Launched by powershell.exe and cmd.exe. Used in scripts for text filtering and file content searching.
When is findstr.exe suspicious?
Searching for passwords, credentials, or keys in files (findstr /si password *.txt *.xml *.config). Part of discovery/enumeration chains. High volume of file content searches across system directories.
How do attackers abuse findstr.exe?
Credential hunting: findstr /si password *.txt *.xml *.ini searches for credentials in configuration files and documents. File discovery: searching for specific file types or content patterns during data collection phase.
Detection guidance
Medium-confidence: findstr searching for password, credential, key, secret across multiple files. Part of broader discovery activity from the same parent process. Do not alert on findstr alone.
False positive notes
Very common in scripts and administration. PowerShell and cmd use findstr for text filtering. Focus on what is being searched for rather than findstr execution.
Related Processes
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