Registry Persistence via Service in Safe Mode

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product windows, category registry_set
Author: frack113
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects the modification of the registry to allow a driver or service to persist in Safe Mode.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1564.001` Hide Artifacts: Hidden Files and Directories

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Sysmon	Event ID 13	RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Rule body yaml

title: Registry Persistence via Service in Safe Mode
id: 1547e27c-3974-43e2-a7d7-7f484fb928ec
status: test
description: Detects the modification of the registry to allow a driver or service to persist in Safe Mode.
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1112/T1112.md#atomic-test-33---windows-add-registry-value-to-load-service-in-safe-mode-without-network
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1112/T1112.md#atomic-test-34---windows-add-registry-value-to-load-service-in-safe-mode-with-network
author: frack113
date: 2022-04-04
modified: 2025-10-22
tags:
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1564.001
logsource:
    category: registry_set
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        TargetObject|contains:
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\'
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\'
        TargetObject|endswith: '\(Default)'
        Details: 'Service'
    filter_optional_sophos:
        Image: 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe'
        TargetObject|endswith:
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\SAVService\(Default)'
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\SAVService\(Default)'
    filter_optional_mbamservice:
        Image|endswith: '\MBAMInstallerService.exe'
        TargetObject|endswith: '\MBAMService\(Default)'
        Details: 'Service'
    filter_optional_hexnode:
        Image: 'C:\Hexnode\Hexnode Agent\Current\HexnodeAgent.exe'
        TargetObject|endswith:
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Updater\(Default)'
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Updater\(Default)'
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Agent\(Default)'
            - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Agent\(Default)'
        Details: 'Service'
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_optional_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: high
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_add_load_service_in_safe_mode/info.yml
simulation:
    - type: atomic-red-team
      name: Windows Add Registry Value to Load Service in Safe Mode without Network
      technique: T1112
      atomic_guid: 1dd59fb3-1cb3-4828-805d-cf80b4c3bbb5
    - type: atomic-red-team
      name: Windows Add Registry Value to Load Service in Safe Mode with Network
      technique: T1112
      atomic_guid: c173c948-65e5-499c-afbe-433722ed5bd4

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection and not 1 of filter_optional_*

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    TargetObject|contains:
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\'
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\'
    TargetObject|endswith: '\(Default)'
    Details: 'Service'

Stage 2: `not filter_optional_*`

filter_optional_sophos:
    Image: 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe'
    TargetObject|endswith:
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\SAVService\(Default)'
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\SAVService\(Default)'
filter_optional_mbamservice:
    Image|endswith: '\MBAMInstallerService.exe'
    TargetObject|endswith: '\MBAMService\(Default)'
    Details: 'Service'
filter_optional_hexnode:
    Image: 'C:\Hexnode\Hexnode Agent\Current\HexnodeAgent.exe'
    TargetObject|endswith:
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Updater\(Default)'
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Updater\(Default)'
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Agent\(Default)'
        - '\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Agent\(Default)'
    Details: 'Service'

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Agent\(Default)`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\Hexnode Updater\(Default)`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Agent\(Default)`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Network\Hexnode Updater\(Default)`
`Details`	eq	`Service`
`Image`	eq	`C:\Hexnode\Hexnode Agent\Current\HexnodeAgent.exe`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\SAVService\(Default)`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\Control\SafeBoot\Network\SAVService\(Default)`
`Image`	eq	`C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe`
`Details`	eq	`Service`
`Image`	ends_with	`\MBAMInstallerService.exe`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\MBAMService\(Default)`

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
`Details`	eq	`Service`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`\(Default)` corpus 2 (sigma 2)
`TargetObject`	match	`\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\` `\Control\SafeBoot\Network\`

`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)

Registry Persistence via Service in Safe Mode

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_optional_*`

Exclusions

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Registry Persistence via Service in Safe Mode

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Stage 2: not filter_optional_*

Exclusions

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Stage 2: `not filter_optional_*`