printisolationhost.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
Print Driver Host for Applications isolates third-party printer drivers into a separate process to prevent printer driver crashes from affecting the spooler service.
printisolationhost.exe is the 114th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 191,508 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by svchost.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- eb0ac5d09d1cb7830feb6fd002f07bf26dab139546c48fa03aaa5383190db1ad32.38%
- 46a6f3d6f15eb88951029b1fa986251e24cd5fff2f69829da139b926a92ffd0414.73%
- 5f36948fd8cce954b75c4f2d4f4d49c935f9eed45c0bc95d20433408bcd05b6a14.71%
- 34707c8cf3e90cad74dc5be54ee9393ce73c07f2b6775729ddf48a4b090ebaad9.35%
- 16d40288946213a83d85fa490f39210b4504cfde508ff3f21967095f7f36e3a26.73%
- e6d677250c195d9c6df746e3943efcd40c2c37efc9cbb601ee3ca8ea21e960f85.2%
- f0d0591c4cd1a475ed985659b03d16c0fc772a82a7efb643b8d94ae851b4a2b73.53%
- cbe38e823405b4b24a5e27f29ddfd21afb3c228f871ccc217e1c60f74f745fb03.2%
- b2a56ddb49c1d0f9dd279a400e1686b79184a28db5106e1cee0e529874a18c9b2.92%
- 4605bf0c708441d146d2f902bb340858e314fca70a4c88eb31cf3544c865c1232.08%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
Top Parents
- svchost.exe100%
Top Children
- KACT2.EXE72.84%
- msiexec.exe12.24%
- CNMSEEU.EXE2.39%
- WerFault.exe0.6%
- rundll32.exe0.3%
Security Analysis
What does printisolationhost.exe normally do?
Located in C:\Windows\System32 or standard Windows/Office paths. Part of normal Windows or Office operations.
When is printisolationhost.exe suspicious?
Running from non-standard paths. Parent process other than expected. Spawning shells or unusual child processes.
How do attackers abuse printisolationhost.exe?
Not commonly abused.
Detection guidance
Low priority. Validate path and parent process.
False positive notes
Normal system/Office operation.
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