taskhostw.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
Task Host Window is the generic host process for Windows scheduled tasks that are implemented as DLLs rather than executables. It loads and executes task DLLs on behalf of the Task Scheduler service. It replaced taskhost.exe starting with Windows 8.
taskhostw.exe is the 23rd most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 2,520,751 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)
- 3ce98f1566021b5fa605910b20db373e89107889e8137b438f7104833f38744420.93%
- 0bec3128b241fa533dc5a9d3f62aa41323d205defc30dcde228c5ecc2d1e50a916.34%
- 0322728dbce3a577c4a13b907ad7375d27e74880b63f7371384f67d19197a0ad13.08%
- 3bc9d9e67292b2d4849ad0db1eae86ddedbfc27728cded9cfa614c4939a5d2d49.66%
- d5907d58a3e8a9f5610941d1e281f8dac6437de648ffca08974490fdf7f74acd6.39%
- 59c34f131dcedcc34252d2ab18754481843efb2a64a92996391330c3211549434.04%
- e63709209d09bc0247e785f075ddb28a98c348206109e2b8ba321ad9584027283.56%
- 740122d338ffd2cbb0877f8ac17b28218ead02f08a9b28d5266c94e33f9380853.36%
- 08b8d458cb717d88425f365482884441c7fcd09f96c62e38f760fab6674491382.96%
- a0a677d6c943ad1a7bc1879dfccb400211df68100f8edd7ba6120067a18bee0b2.38%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
- svchost.exe<0.01%
Top Parents
- svchost.exe97.94%
- taskhostw.exe<0.01%
- IntelCpHDCPSvc.exe<0.01%
Top Children
- ngentask.exe64.7%
- WpcTok.exe34.99%
- WerFault.exe0.14%
- conhost.exe0.06%
- WinSAT.exe0.04%
- chrome.exe0.01%
- explorer.exe0.01%
- msedge.exe<0.01%
- mscorsvw.exe<0.01%
- 7zG.exe<0.01%
Security Analysis
What does taskhostw.exe normally do?
Located in C:\Windows\System32. Launched by svchost.exe (hosting the Task Scheduler service). Multiple instances may run for concurrent scheduled tasks.
When is taskhostw.exe suspicious?
Parent process other than svchost.exe. Running from a non-standard path. Spawning unusual child processes — the children depend on what scheduled task is running, so context matters. If the child processes are shells or recon tools and the scheduled task is not expected, investigate.
How do attackers abuse taskhostw.exe?
Attackers who establish persistence via malicious scheduled tasks may see their payloads execute through taskhostw.exe as the host process. The task itself is the malicious component, not taskhostw.exe. This makes parent-child analysis of taskhostw.exe relevant for detecting scheduled task abuse.
Detection guidance
Medium-confidence: taskhostw.exe spawning shells or tools associated with recon/attack activity. Correlate with Task Scheduler event logs (Event IDs 106, 140, 141, 200, 201 in Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational) to identify what scheduled task triggered the activity. The scheduled task definition is where the malicious content lives.
False positive notes
Many legitimate scheduled tasks run through taskhostw.exe. Windows maintenance tasks, update checks, and telemetry all use scheduled tasks. Focus on the child process behavior and the corresponding task definition.
MITRE ATT&CK techniques
Related Processes
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