// question

On a Windows system, you notice a process that recursively enumerates files named 'Bookmarks' under every user profile directory. Which Windows command-line utility was used to perform that search?

Reference KQL answer and model-by-model comparison.

76f71e2f-480e-4bed-b61e-398fe17499d5
question id
11/23
models correct
1
valid answer
48%
success rate
// reference answer

Human-validated correct answer for this question.

where
// model comparison
ModelAnswerKQL queryStatusTriesTimeCost
gemini-2.5-flash-preview-04-17
powershell.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks"
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "dir" or ProcessCommandLine contains "findstr" or ProcessCommandLine contains "Get-ChildItem"
| distinct FileName
fail223.41s0.0093
gpt-35-turbo
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.0112
gpt-4-turbo-2024-04-09
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.2246
gpt-4.1
where.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks" and (
    ProcessCommandLine has "C:\\Users" or ProcessCommandLine has "%USERPROFILE%"
) and (
    FileName =~ "cmd.exe" or FileName =~ "powershell.exe" or FileName =~ "where.exe" or FileName =~ "dir.exe"
)
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, FileName, ProcessCommandLine, AccountName, InitiatingProcessParentFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
pass16.97s0.0124
gpt-4.1-finetuned
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.0391
gpt-4.1-mini
where
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks"
| where ProcessCommandLine matches regex @".*\\Users\\.*"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, InitiatingProcessFileName, ProcessCommandLine
| summarize count() by InitiatingProcessFileName, ProcessCommandLine
| order by count_ desc
pass14.67s0.0024
gpt-4.1-nano
PowerShell
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any ("/s", "-Recurse", "-Recurse -Path")
| where FileName in ("cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "cscript.exe")
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks" or FolderPath contains "Bookmarks"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, InitiatingProcessFileName, ProcessCommandLine, FolderPath
fail12.19s0.0005
gpt-4o
cmd.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks"
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Users"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
fail110.86s0.0146
gpt-5-high
where.exe
let bookmarksRegex = @"(?i)\bbookmarks\b";
let usersRegex = @"(?i)c:\\users";
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ActionType == "ProcessCreated"
| where isnotempty(ProcessCommandLine)
| where ProcessCommandLine matches regex bookmarksRegex
| where ProcessCommandLine matches regex usersRegex
| extend Utility = case(
    FileName =~ "where.exe" and ProcessCommandLine has "/r", "where.exe",
    FileName =~ "cmd.exe" and ProcessCommandLine matches regex @"(?i)\bdir\b.*?(/s|/b)", "cmd.exe (dir)",
    (FileName =~ "powershell.exe" or FileName =~ "pwsh.exe") and ProcessCommandLine matches regex @"(?i)\b(get-childitem|gci|ls|dir)\b.*?-recurse\b", "PowerShell (Get-ChildItem)",
    FileName =~ "cmd.exe" and ProcessCommandLine matches regex @"(?i)\bfor\s+/r\b", "cmd.exe (for /r)",
    FileName)
| where Utility in ("where.exe", "cmd.exe (dir)", "PowerShell (Get-ChildItem)", "cmd.exe (for /r)")
| summarize ExecCount=dcount(ProcessId), FirstSeen=min(TimeGenerated), LastSeen=max(TimeGenerated), SampleCommand=arg_max(TimeGenerated, ProcessCommandLine) by DeviceName, Utility
| order by ExecCount desc, LastSeen desc
pass1130.43s0.0650
gpt-5-mini-high
where
// Find processes that searched for files named 'Bookmarks' under user profile paths
union isfuzzy=true
(
    DeviceProcessEvents
    | extend Cmd = tolower(ProcessCommandLine)
    | where isnotempty(Cmd) and Cmd contains "bookmarks" and (Cmd contains "\\users\\" or Cmd contains "c:\\users" or Cmd contains "users/")
    | extend ProcPath = trim('"', tostring(split(ProcessCommandLine, ' ')[0]))
    | extend ProcName = tolower(split(ProcPath, '\\')[-1])
    | project Timestamp, DeviceName, ProcName, ProcessId, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessId
),
(
    DeviceEvents
    | extend Cmd = tolower(coalesce(ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine))
    | where isnotempty(Cmd) and Cmd contains "bookmarks" and (Cmd contains "\\users\\" or Cmd contains "c:\\users" or Cmd contains "users/")
    | extend ProcPath = trim('"', tostring(split(coalesce(ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine), ' ')[0]))
    | extend ProcName = tolower(split(ProcPath, '\\')[-1])
    | project Timestamp, DeviceName, ProcName, ProcessId, ProcessCommandLine = coalesce(ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine), InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessId
)
| order by Timestamp desc
| summarize events = count(), exampleCommand = any(ProcessCommandLine), firstSeen = min(Timestamp), lastSeen = max(Timestamp) by ProcName, DeviceName
| order by events desc
| limit 100
pass128.88s0.0071
gpt-5-mini-low
powershell.exe
// Find events accessing files named 'Bookmarks' under user profiles and summarize by the initiating process and command line
let files = DeviceFileEvents
| where tolower(FileName) == "bookmarks"
| where FolderPath matches regex @"(?i)\\Users\\[^\\]+\\"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, Source = "DeviceFileEvents", ProcFileName = InitiatingProcessFileName, ProcCommandLine = InitiatingProcessCommandLine, ProcId = InitiatingProcessId, FolderPath;
let procs = DeviceProcessEvents
| where tolower(ProcessCommandLine) has "bookmarks"
    or ProcessCommandLine matches regex @"(?i)dir\s+\/s|get-childitem|gci\s+(-|--)?recurse|where\s+\/r|forfiles|for\s+\/r"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, Source = "DeviceProcessEvents", ProcFileName = FileName, ProcCommandLine = ProcessCommandLine, ProcId = ProcessId, FolderPath = FolderPath;
union files, procs
| summarize Events = count(), FirstSeen = min(TimeGenerated), LastSeen = max(TimeGenerated) by ProcFileName, ProcCommandLine, DeviceName
| order by Events desc
// The ProcFileName typically reveals the command-line utility (e.g., cmd.exe, powershell.exe, forfiles.exe, where.exe).
fail131.72s0.0067
gpt-5-mini-medium
where.exe
union DeviceProcessEvents, DeviceEvents, DeviceFileEvents
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, ProcessFile = coalesce(FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName), ProcessId = coalesce(ProcessId, InitiatingProcessId), Cmd = coalesce(ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine)
| where isnotempty(Cmd)
| extend CmdLower = tolower(Cmd)
// Look for commands mentioning the target filename and common recursion/search indicators
| where CmdLower contains "bookmarks"
  and (
    CmdLower contains "-recurse"
    or CmdLower contains "get-childitem"
    or CmdLower contains " gci "
    or CmdLower contains "/s"
    or CmdLower contains "/r"
    or CmdLower contains "where "
    or CmdLower contains "findstr"
    or CmdLower contains "for /r"
    or (CmdLower contains "dir" and CmdLower contains "/s")
  )
| extend DetectedUtility = case(
    CmdLower contains "get-childitem" or CmdLower contains " gci " or CmdLower contains "powershell", "PowerShell (Get-ChildItem)",
    CmdLower contains "findstr" and CmdLower contains "/s", "findstr",
    CmdLower contains "where" and CmdLower contains "/r", "where.exe",
    CmdLower contains "for /r" or CmdLower contains "for / r", "cmd (for /r)",
    CmdLower contains "dir" and CmdLower contains "/s", "cmd (dir /s)",
    "Unknown")
| summarize Count = count(), SampleCommands = make_list(Cmd, 5), FirstSeen = min(TimeGenerated), LastSeen = max(TimeGenerated) by DetectedUtility, DeviceName, ProcessFile
| order by Count desc, LastSeen desc
| project DetectedUtility, DeviceName, ProcessFile, Count, FirstSeen, LastSeen, SampleCommands
pass376.73s0.0161
gpt-5-nano-high
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.0073
gpt-5-nano-medium
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.0094
grok-3-beta
no answer
no query generatedfail50.00s0.0906
grok-3-mini-beta
cmd.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks" and ProcessCommandLine contains "C:\\Users\\"
| summarize Count = count() by InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| order by Count desc
| project InitiatingProcessCommandLine, Count
fail332.01s0.0043
o1-high
where
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ActionType == "ProcessCreated"
| where ProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks"
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any ("C:\\Users", "/s", "-Recurse", "for /r", "Get-ChildItem")
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, FileName, FolderPath, ProcessCommandLine, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| order by TimeGenerated desc
pass150.13s0.3602
o1-low
cmd.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(7d)
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks" // look for references to Bookmarks
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any ("C:\\Users", "C:/Users", "Users") // searching user-profile directories
| summarize TotalSearches = count() by InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine, DeviceName
| order by TotalSearches desc
fail133.36s0.2413
o3-high
where.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
// utility must be the Windows search tool
| where FileName =~ "where.exe"
// the search had to be recursive and for the file name of interest
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "/r" and ProcessCommandLine contains "Bookmarks"
// (optional) most searches start at the Users tree – keep those if present
| where ProcessCommandLine contains "C:\\Users" or ProcessCommandLine contains "\\Users"
// tidy up who and where
| extend Account = iff(isempty(AccountDomain), AccountName, strcat(AccountDomain, "\\", AccountName))
| summarize  EventCount = count(),
            FirstSeen  = min(TimeGenerated),
            LastSeen   = max(TimeGenerated),
            SampleCmd  = any(ProcessCommandLine)
            by DeviceName, Account, Utility = tostring(FileName)
| order by LastSeen desc
pass3114.16s0.0598
o3-mini-high
where
DeviceProcessEvents
| where InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "/r" and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| summarize Count = count() by InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| order by Count desc
pass112.89s0.0095
o3-mini-low
where
DeviceProcessEvents
| where InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "where" and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "/r" and InitiatingProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks"
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, InitiatingProcessFileName, InitiatingProcessCommandLine
| sort by TimeGenerated desc
pass112.69s0.0115
o4-mini-high
where.exe
DeviceProcessEvents
| where ProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks"
| where ProcessCommandLine has_any ("/s", "/r", "-Recurse")
| where FileName in~ ("where.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe")
| distinct FileName
pass270.48s0.0222
o4-mini-low
where
DeviceProcessEvents
| where FileName in ("cmd.exe","powershell.exe","where.exe","dir.exe")
| where ProcessCommandLine has "Bookmarks"
      and ProcessCommandLine has @"C:\Users\"
      and ProcessCommandLine has_any ("/s","/r","-Recurse","-Filter")
| summarize Hits = count() by FileName, ProcessCommandLine
| order by Hits desc
| take 5
pass4217.55s0.0466