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Detection rules › Sigma

Potential Persistence Attempt Via Run Keys Using Reg.EXE

Status
test
Severity
medium
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects suspicious command line reg.exe tool adding key to RUN key in Registry

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1547.001 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
Privilege EscalationT1547.001 Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation
Security-AuditingEvent ID 4688A new process has been created.

Rule body yaml

title: Potential Persistence Attempt Via Run Keys Using Reg.EXE
id: de587dce-915e-4218-aac4-835ca6af6f70
status: test
description: Detects suspicious command line reg.exe tool adding key to RUN key in Registry
references:
    - https://app.any.run/tasks/9c0f37bc-867a-4314-b685-e101566766d7/
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/setupapi/run-and-runonce-registry-keys
    - https://github.com/HackTricks-wiki/hacktricks/blob/e4c7b21b8f36c97c35b7c622732b38a189ce18f7/src/windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation/privilege-escalation-with-autorun-binaries.md
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-06-28
modified: 2025-02-17
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.t1547.001
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\reg.exe'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - 'reg'
            - ' add '
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
            - '\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
            - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate software automatically (mostly, during installation) sets up autorun keys for legitimate reasons.
    - Legitimate administrator sets up autorun keys for legitimate reasons.
    - Discord
level: medium
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_reg_add_run_key/info.yml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

selection

Stage 1: selection

selection:
    Image|endswith: '\reg.exe'
    CommandLine|contains|all:
        - 'reg'
        - ' add '
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
        - '\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
        - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
CommandLinematch
  • add corpus 14 (sigma 12, splunk 1, chronicle 1)
  • Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run corpus 3 (sigma 3)
  • \Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run corpus 3 (sigma 3)
  • reg corpus 7 (sigma 5, splunk 1, kusto 1)
Imageends_with
  • \reg.exe corpus 58 (sigma 58)