musnotifyicon.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
Windows Update notification icon in the system tray. Displays the update status icon and handles user interaction with update notifications.
musnotifyicon.exe is the 113th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 195,478 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by usocoreworker.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 7c52f19cf1b2f40a2d85a4714ed699f16f31b2c5fb4a0e47ecbfb14d3d51536128.22%
- 4e368353d540a89aabd97d0e0a49c5b7f08c91f94242f374bb934352372db31016.12%
- 570cdf77de8b78fea093a634eecdb4550e77103fc3fcc36a56083a89fd286a399.22%
- 17faf098f44430331aedfa3e51e9c05fdffa70efb186d7b77d0509870858ebb87.1%
- 04388ee4e75dbd9850a27ea3c0454c8fe40d88ead22e9d837640cda578fb8ee17.07%
- ee38b245ea4d41fd66f00af362cf152f666ffacd7d3fa2518a65b692a61f4eb86.3%
- a3f36bc6930715d14e998238c71e319a8060b6afc4128cec7651b601c88bb9ef4.49%
- bf1bacb5b1cba18937e6d04b72646914c6925639d6c7c7a71a9dab46bbb8f5702.99%
- af6360fd38e8bd8e6d44ed0a3eb80e9f49d7644a3047bfdf6ebeb32fc0c608582.4%
- cb6560166181dc74043f80bda4388d4860a4d9b31d4fc9f16a4aa90448cb16a02.34%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
Top Parents
- usocoreworker.exe82.43%
- musnotification.exe12.08%
- svchost.exe5.49%
- conhost.exe<0.01%
- ngen.exe<0.01%
- SpeechRuntime.exe<0.01%
Security Analysis
What does musnotifyicon.exe normally do?
Located in C:\Windows\System32 or standard Windows/Office paths. Part of normal Windows or Office operations.
When is musnotifyicon.exe suspicious?
Running from non-standard paths. Parent process other than expected. Spawning shells or unusual child processes.
How do attackers abuse musnotifyicon.exe?
Not commonly abused.
Detection guidance
Low priority. Validate path and parent process.
False positive notes
Normal system/Office operation.
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