SearchFilterHost.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
Windows Search Filter Host is part of the Windows Search service. It hosts IFilter components that extract text and properties from documents during indexing. It processes file content so it can be indexed for Windows Search.
SearchFilterHost.exe is the 17th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 4,381,662 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by SearchIndexer.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 8c7fbeaebed0fe84681ae8c708c0aa6bea871f958dad55782d06af6b8398e55822.53%
- 08db454051c410cdaec98fa79a95945f472f584a96e6f45dac4d5d3b6a4b854f12.55%
- e7015bf982e45bc8e4e37328ee6c42ba47a20aafed6bac107b6ac83a8f7530638.87%
- 086e202398a409cb872c4d17424f81477a4cb37bcd2bbe59a26639d63801621c8.08%
- 58bbf6e9f96ae9991bc52590bff59a37081394085add94b63d5d92b2b98dee246.54%
- d807ea600e20729decf4ca9afa63ae1f0e680621f82ac69d4a060c4966554b2e5.6%
- 09a2cd711fd5076160ff590fcbc83ce4fc422c89e7373373cf3eda471c6d819a3.47%
- 8a9af652092484afaffad20dafd51ae8886738c7432823549c4fb7fd06fcf7e33.35%
- 1f6e95998e22c9a62ffa2913fc205500c36daff7295c85d69f0744da01d8054e2.81%
- 469592f74da001dd6595dc69b9f99f14486bfaac9a8bc2585f225fc8cbbb329d2%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
- msiexec.exe<0.01%
- svchost.exe<0.01%
Top Parents
- wevtutil.exe<0.01%
- backgroundTaskHost.exe<0.01%
- conhost.exe<0.01%
- dllhost.exe<0.01%
- ngen.exe<0.01%
Top Children
- WerFault.exe99.99%
- conhost.exe0.01%
- taskkill.exe<0.01%
Security Analysis
What does SearchFilterHost.exe normally do?
Located in C:\Windows\System32. Always launched by SearchIndexer.exe. High execution count reflects frequent indexing activity.
When is SearchFilterHost.exe suspicious?
Parent process other than SearchIndexer.exe. Running from a non-standard path. Spawning child processes.
How do attackers abuse SearchFilterHost.exe?
Rarely abused. Similar profile to searchprotocolhost.exe.
Detection guidance
Low priority. Validate parent is SearchIndexer.exe and path is System32.
False positive notes
High execution volume is normal during indexing.
Related Processes
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