System Restore Registry Modification via CommandLine

Status: experimental
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category process_creation
Author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects system restore registry modification via command line, which can be used by adversaries to disable system restore on the computer.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Impact	`T1490` Inhibit System Recovery

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 1	Process creation

Rule body yaml

title: System Restore Registry Modification via CommandLine
id: 7c06ab9b-b1d2-4ba9-b06e-09491ded20d9
related:
    - id: 5de03871-5d46-4539-a82d-3aa992a69a83
      type: similar
status: experimental
description: |
    Detects system restore registry modification via command line, which can be used by adversaries to disable system restore on the computer.
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1490/T1490.md#atomic-test-9---disable-system-restore-through-registry
author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
date: 2026-03-11
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1490
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith:
              - '\powershell.exe'
              - '\pwsh.exe'
              - '\reg.exe'
        - OriginalFileName:
              - 'powershell.exe'
              - 'pwsh.dll'
              - 'reg.exe'
    selection_cli_action:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ' add '
            - 'Set-ItemProperty'
            - 'New-ItemProperty'
    selection_cli_reg_root:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - '\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore'
            - '\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore'
    selection_cli_reg_key:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'DisableConfig'
            - 'DisableSR'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_reg_system_restore_modification/info.yml
simulation:
    - type: atomic-red-team
      name: Disable System Restore Through Registry
      technique: T1490
      atomic_guid: 66e647d1-8741-4e43-b7c1-334760c2047f

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

all of selection_*

Stage 1: `selection_img`

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\powershell.exe'
          - '\pwsh.exe'
          - '\reg.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'powershell.exe'
          - 'pwsh.dll'
          - 'reg.exe'

Stage 2: `selection_cli_action`

selection_cli_action:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - ' add '
        - 'Set-ItemProperty'
        - 'New-ItemProperty'

Stage 3: `selection_cli_reg_root`

selection_cli_reg_root:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - '\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore'
        - '\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore'

Stage 4: `selection_cli_reg_key`

selection_cli_reg_key:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'DisableConfig'
        - 'DisableSR'

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.

Field	Kind	Values
`CommandLine`	match	`add` corpus 14 (sigma 12, splunk 1, chronicle 1) `DisableConfig` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `DisableSR` `New-ItemProperty` corpus 7 (sigma 7) `Set-ItemProperty` corpus 7 (sigma 7) `\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore` `\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore`
`Image`	ends_with	`\powershell.exe` corpus 182 (sigma 182) `\pwsh.exe` corpus 168 (sigma 168) `\reg.exe` corpus 58 (sigma 58)
`OriginalFileName`	eq	`powershell.exe` corpus 120 (sigma 84, splunk 30, elastic 6) `pwsh.dll` corpus 112 (sigma 79, splunk 30, elastic 3) `reg.exe` corpus 42 (sigma 32, splunk 8, elastic 2)

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

System Restore Registry Modification via CommandLine

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_action`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_reg_root`

Stage 4: `selection_cli_reg_key`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

System Restore Registry Modification via CommandLine

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_img

Stage 2: selection_cli_action

Stage 3: selection_cli_reg_root

Stage 4: selection_cli_reg_key

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_img`

Stage 2: `selection_cli_action`

Stage 3: `selection_cli_reg_root`

Stage 4: `selection_cli_reg_key`