qwinsta.exe

File Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\qwinsta.exe
Description: Query Session Utility

Hashes

Type	Hash
MD5	`2059B78166B69848737424208591E6BC`
SHA1	`06CC7FC5A9C7BC79D6A150C5C15CBC8E08A93BF5`
SHA256	`09F2CDDFEB76FD6A758EDC6F2ABC9147E2F3D1A11AFECAF28B69F2ABE71B0BEF`
SHA384	`95E058EE34493F54227397028E0C1F397C31EA52B66AF266C263BF77A23D68104EA66FAF4C9EA90A0450DA8328C639BE`
SHA512	`9244492ECADB08FA483F983D854F564D92C331C9229D6253AF7A686399AB2B26F52899074EF0E8E414C2212E5B53A69DB744B4AC03CCD8A778C6A91936E328D4`
SSDEEP	`768:l+Krld2QHrlnu6X5rJZc1l3SCAKK8oPwLRlc:TKsBNX5rj1Puc`

Runtime Data

Usage (stdout):

Display information about Remote Desktop Services sessions.

QUERY SESSION [sessionname | username | sessionid]
              [/SERVER:servername] [/MODE] [/FLOW] [/CONNECT] [/COUNTER] [/VM]

  sessionname         Identifies the session named sessionname.
  username            Identifies the session with user username.
  sessionid           Identifies the session with ID sessionid.
  /SERVER:servername  The server to be queried (default is current).
  /MODE               Display current line settings.
  /FLOW               Display current flow control settings.
  /CONNECT            Display current connect settings.
  /COUNTER            Display current Remote Desktop Services counters information.
  /VM                 Display information about sessions within virtual machines.

Usage (stderr):

Invalid parameter(s)
Display information about Remote Desktop Services sessions.

QUERY SESSION [sessionname | username | sessionid]
              [/SERVER:servername] [/MODE] [/FLOW] [/CONNECT] [/COUNTER] [/VM]

  sessionname         Identifies the session named sessionname.
  username            Identifies the session with user username.
  sessionid           Identifies the session with ID sessionid.
  /SERVER:servername  The server to be queried (default is current).
  /MODE               Display current line settings.
  /FLOW               Display current flow control settings.
  /CONNECT            Display current connect settings.
  /COUNTER            Display current Remote Desktop Services counters information.
  /VM                 Display information about sessions within virtual machines.

Signature

Status: Signature verified.
Serial: 33000001C422B2F79B793DACB20000000001C4
Thumbprint: AE9C1AE54763822EEC42474983D8B635116C8452
Issuer: CN=Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US
Subject: CN=Microsoft Windows, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US

File Metadata

Original Filename: qwinsta.exe.mui
Product Name: Microsoft Windows Operating System
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation
File Version: 10.0.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
Product Version: 10.0.18362.1
Language: English (United States)
Legal Copyright: Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

File Similarity (ssdeep match)

File	Score
C:\Windows\system32\qwinsta.exe	74

Possible Misuse

The following table contains possible examples of qwinsta.exe being misused. While qwinsta.exe is not inherently malicious, its legitimate functionality can be abused for malicious purposes.

Source	Source File	Example	License
sigma	apt_silence_downloader_v3.yml	`- '\qwinsta.exe'`	DRL 1.0
sigma	proc_creation_win_local_system_owner_account_discovery.yml	`- '\qwinsta.exe'`	DRL 1.0
sigma	proc_creation_win_multiple_suspicious_cli.yml	`- qwinsta.exe`	DRL 1.0
atomic-red-team	T1033.md	qwinsta.exe /server:#{computer_name}	MIT License. © 2018 Red Canary
atomic-red-team	T1033.md	qwinsta.exe	MIT License. © 2018 Red Canary
atomic-red-team	T1033.md	for /F “tokens=1,2” %i in (‘qwinsta /server:#{computer_name} ^\| findstr “Active Disc”’) do @echo %i \| find /v “#” \| find /v “console” \|\| echo %j > computers.txt	MIT License. © 2018 Red Canary
atomic-red-team	T1033.md	@FOR /F %n in (computers.txt) DO @FOR /F “tokens=1,2” %i in (‘qwinsta /server:%n ^\| findstr “Active Disc”’) do @echo %i \| find /v “#” \| find /v “console” \|\| echo %j > usernames.txt	MIT License. © 2018 Red Canary

Additional Info*

*The information below is copied from MicrosoftDocs, which is maintained by Microsoft. Available under CC BY 4.0 license.

qwinsta

Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Displays information about sessions on a Remote Desktop Session Host server. The list includes information not only about active sessions but also about other sessions that the server runs.

[!NOTE] This command is the same as the query session command. To find out what’s new in the latest version, see What’s New in Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server.

Syntax

qwinsta [<sessionname> | <username> | <sessionID>] [/server:<servername>] [/mode] [/flow] [/connect] [/counter]

Parameters

Parameter	Description
`<sessionname>`	Specifies the name of the session that you want to query.
`<username>`	Specifies the name of the user whose sessions you want to query.
`<sessionID>`	Specifies the ID of the session that you want to query.
/server:`<servername>`	Identifies the rd Session Host server to query. The default is the current server.
/mode	Displays current line settings.
/flow	Displays current flow-control settings.
/connect	Displays current connect settings.
/counter	Displays current counters information, including the total number of sessions created, disconnected, and reconnected.
/?	Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

A user can always query the session to which the user is currently logged on. To query other sessions, the user must have special access permission.
If you don’t specify a session using the <username>, <sessionname>, or sessionID parameters, this query will display information about all active sessions in the system.
When qwinsta returns information, a greater than (>) symbol is displayed before the current session. For example:
```
  C:\>qwinsta
      SESSIONNAME     USERNAME        ID STATE    TYPE    DEVICE
      console         Administrator1  0 active    wdcon
      >rdp-tcp#1      User1           1 active    wdtshare
      rdp-tcp                         2 listen    wdtshare
                                      4 idle
                                      5 idle
```
Where:
- SESSIONNAME specifies the name assigned to the session.
- USERNAME indicates the user name of the user connected to the session.
- STATE provides information about the current state of the session.
- TYPE indicates the session type.
- DEVICE, which isn’t present for the console or network-connected sessions, is the device name assigned to the session.
- Any sessions in which the initial state is configured as DISABLED won’t show up in the qwinsta list until they’re enabled.

Examples

To display information about all active sessions on server Server2, type:

qwinsta /server:Server2

To display information about active session modeM02, type:

qwinsta modeM02