Detection rules › YARA-L

Session Manager Autorun Keys Modification

Severity
medium
Type
Detection
Time window
5m
Match by
hostname
Author
Victor Sergeev, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, Gleb Sukhodolskiy, Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community, Tim Shelton, frack113 (split)
Source
github.com/chronicle/detection-rules

Detects modification of autostart extensibility point (ASEP) in registry

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

References

Event coverage

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 session_manager_autorun_keys_modification {

  meta:
    author = "Victor Sergeev, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, Gleb Sukhodolskiy, Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community, Tim Shelton, frack113 (split)"
    description = "Detects modification of autostart extensibility point (ASEP) in registry"
    reference = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_asep_reg_keys_modification_session_manager.yml"
    license = "https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License/blob/main/LICENSE.Detection.Rules.md"
    rule_name = "Session Manager Autorun Keys Modification"
    rule_id = "mr_4ec3053f-3617-4262-93ae-838dc542610c"
    sigma_uuid = "046218bd-e0d8-4113-a3c3-895a12b2b298"
    sigma_status = "test"
    tactic = "TA0003"
    //tactic = "TA0004"
    technique = "T1547.001"
    //technique = "T1546.009"
    type = "Detection"
    data_source = "Sysmon"
    platform = "Windows"
    severity = "Medium"
    priority = "Medium"
    false_positives = "Legitimate software automatically sets up autorun keys for legitimate reason"

  events:
    $reg.metadata.event_type = "REGISTRY_MODIFICATION"
    strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "system\\currentcontrolset\\control\\session manager")
    (
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\setupexecute") or
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\s0initialcommand") or
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\knowndlls") or
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\execute") or
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\bootexecute") or
      strings.contains(strings.to_lower($reg.target.registry.registry_key), "\\appcertdlls")
    )
    NOT $reg.target.registry.registry_value_data = "(Empty)" nocase

    $reg.principal.hostname = $hostname

  match:
    $hostname over 5m

  outcome:
    //example usage of specifying test user and hostname to adjust risk score
    $risk_score = max(if($reg.principal.user.userid = "user" and $reg.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
    $principal_hostname = array_distinct($reg.principal.hostname)
    $principal_process_pid = array_distinct($reg.principal.process.pid)
    $principal_process_file_full_path = array_distinct($reg.principal.process.file.full_path)
    $principal_process_product_specific_process_id = array_distinct($reg.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
    $principal_user_userid = array_distinct($reg.principal.user.userid)
    $target_registry_key = array_distinct($reg.target.registry.registry_key)
    $target_registry_value_data = array_distinct($reg.target.registry.registry_value_data)
    $log_type = array_distinct(strings.concat($reg.metadata.log_type,"/",$reg.metadata.product_event_type))

  condition:
    $reg
}

Detection logic

Fires when at least one $reg event in the 5m window.

Events

$reg REGISTRY_MODIFICATION (13, 4657)

  • target.registry.registry_key contains "system\\currentcontrolset\\control\\session manager"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\setupexecute"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\s0initialcommand"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\knowndlls"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\execute"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\bootexecute"
  • target.registry.registry_key contains "\\appcertdlls"
  • target.registry.registry_value_data = "(Empty)"

Correlation

Match key
$hostname (principal.hostname)
Within
5m

Outcome

Fields the detection emits on a match. $risk_score drives alerting; Chronicle surfaces the rest on the detection.

FieldExpression
risk_scoremax(if($reg.principal.user.userid = "user" and $reg.principal.hostname = "hostname", 0, 15))
principal_hostnamearray_distinct($reg.principal.hostname)
principal_process_pidarray_distinct($reg.principal.process.pid)
principal_process_file_full_patharray_distinct($reg.principal.process.file.full_path)
principal_process_product_specific_process_idarray_distinct($reg.principal.process.product_specific_process_id)
principal_user_useridarray_distinct($reg.principal.user.userid)
target_registry_keyarray_distinct($reg.target.registry.registry_key)
target_registry_value_dataarray_distinct($reg.target.registry.registry_value_data)
log_typearray_distinct(strings.concat($reg.metadata.log_type,"/",$reg.metadata.product_event_type))