Detection rules › YARA-L
Direct Autorun Keys Modification
Detects direct modification of autostart extensibility point (ASEP) in registry using reg.exe
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1547.001 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder |
References
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 1 | Process creation |
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4688 | A new process has been created. |
Rule body yaral
/*
* Copyright 2025 Google LLC
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
rule direct_autorun_keys_modification {
meta:
author = "Victor Sergeev, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, oscd.community"
description = "Detects direct modification of autostart extensibility point (ASEP) in registry using reg.exe"
reference = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_reg_direct_asep_registry_keys_modification.yml"
license = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License/blob/main/LICENSE.Detection.Rules.md"
rule_name = "Direct Autorun Keys Modification"
rule_id = "mr_b031bea5-d00b-43ae-a74c-b4df380262e8"
sigma_uuid = "24357373-078f-44ed-9ac4-6d334a668a11"
sigma_status = "test"
tactic = "TA0003"
technique = "T1547.001"
type = "Detection"
data_source = "Windows Event Logs"
platform = "Windows"
severity = "Medium"
priority = "Medium"
false_positives = "Legitimate software automatically sets up autorun keys for legitimate reasons"
events:
$process.metadata.event_type = "PROCESS_LAUNCH"
re.regex($process.target.process.file.full_path, `\\reg\.exe$`) nocase
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "add")
(
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\software\\microsoft\\windows\\currentversion\\run") or
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\winlogon\\userinit") or
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\winlogon\\shell") or
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\windows") or
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\software\\microsoft\\windows\\currentversion\\explorer\\user shell folders") or
strings.contains(strings.to_lower($process.target.process.command_line), "\\system\\currentcontrolset\\control\\safeboot\\alternateshell")
)
$process.principal.hostname = $hostname
match:
$hostname over 5m
outcome:
//example usage of specifying test user and hostname to adjust risk score
$risk_score = max(if($process.principal.user.userid = "user" and $process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
$principal_process_pid = array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid)
$principal_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line)
$principal_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256)
$principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path)
$principal_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id)
$target_process_pid = array_distinct($process.target.process.pid)
$target_process_command_line = array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line)
$target_process_file_sha256 = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256)
$target_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path)
$target_process_product_specfic_process_id = array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id)
$principal_user_userid = array_distinct($process.principal.user.userid)
$log_type = array_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type))
condition:
$process
}
Detection logic
Fires when at least one $process event in the 5m window.
Events
$process
target.process.file.full_path matches "\\reg\.exe$"target.process.command_line contains "add"target.process.command_line contains "\\software\\microsoft\\windows\\currentversion\\run"target.process.command_line contains "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\winlogon\\userinit"target.process.command_line contains "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\winlogon\\shell"target.process.command_line contains "\\software\\microsoft\\windows nt\\currentversion\\windows"target.process.command_line contains "\\software\\microsoft\\windows\\currentversion\\explorer\\user shell folders"target.process.command_line contains "\\system\\currentcontrolset\\control\\safeboot\\alternateshell"
Correlation
Outcome
Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.
| Field | Expression |
|---|---|
risk_score | max(if($process.principal.user.userid = "user" and $process.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15)) |
principal_process_pid | array_distinct($process.principal.process.pid) |
principal_process_command_line | array_distinct($process.principal.process.command_line) |
principal_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.sha256) |
principal_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($process.principal.process.file.full_path) |
principal_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.principal.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_process_parent_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.principal.process.parent_process.product_specific_process_id) |
target_process_pid | array_distinct($process.target.process.pid) |
target_process_command_line | array_distinct($process.target.process.command_line) |
target_process_file_sha256 | array_distinct($process.target.process.file.sha256) |
target_process_file_full_path | array_distinct($process.target.process.file.full_path) |
target_process_product_specfic_process_id | array_distinct($process.target.process.product_specific_process_id) |
principal_user_userid | array_distinct($process.principal.user.userid) |
log_type | array_distinct(strings.concat($process.metadata.log_type,"/",$process.metadata.product_event_type)) |