splunk-powershell.exe
Summary
Splunk PowerShell module process. Executes PowerShell-based data collection scripts for the Splunk Universal Forwarder, collecting Windows event logs, performance data, and other telemetry.
splunk-powershell.exe is the 177th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 87,246 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Program Files\Splunk\bin and it is most often launched by splunkd.exe.
Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Program Files\Splunk\bin75.57%
- C:\Program Files\SUFwd\bin22.87%
- C:\Program Files\SplunkUniversalForwarder\bin1.56%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 950dff45af9486ef9a6a8926be0150c733d1ecfaa501370c9ee7495e73827dab93.62%
- f9d7ca4f228a5a7cde420f872a183be91ed60fcc25c5fb9540c36df4a92654346.38%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
Top Parents
- splunkd.exe100%
Top Children
- conhost.exe100%
Rare or environment-specific process names are omitted from ancestry tables. Percentages are of all observed relationships.
Security Analysis
What does splunk-powershell.exe normally do?
Part of Splunk Universal Forwarder installation. Runs PowerShell collection scripts.
When is splunk-powershell.exe suspicious?
Running from outside Splunk installation directories.
How do attackers abuse splunk-powershell.exe?
Not directly abused.
Detection guidance
No detection needed. Presence indicates Splunk forwarder deployment.
False positive notes
Normal Splunk operation.
Related Processes
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Data from EchoTrail's dataset of ~346M Windows process executions. Last extracted 2026-08-04.