Registry Explorer Policy Modification

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

Detects registry modifications that disable internal tools or functions in explorer (malware like Agent Tesla uses this technique)

Known false positives

Legitimate admin script

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1112` Modify Registry
Defense Impairment	`T1112` Modify Registry

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Sysmon	Event ID 13: RegistryEvent (Value Set)

Rule body

title: Registry Explorer Policy Modification
id: 1c3121ed-041b-4d97-a075-07f54f20fb4a
status: test
description: Detects registry modifications that disable internal tools or functions in explorer (malware like Agent Tesla uses this technique)
references:
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1112/T1112.md
author: frack113
date: 2022-03-18
modified: 2023-08-17
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1112
logsource:
    category: registry_set
    product: windows
detection:
    selection_set_1:
        TargetObject|endswith:
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoLogOff'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoRun'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFind'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoControlPanel'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFileMenu'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoClose'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoSetTaskbar'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoPropertiesMyDocuments'
            - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoTrayContextMenu'
        Details: 'DWORD (0x00000001)'
    condition: selection_set_1
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin script
level: medium

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection_set_1

Stage 1: `selection_set_1`

selection_set_1:
    TargetObject|endswith:
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoLogOff'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoRun'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFind'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoControlPanel'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFileMenu'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoClose'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoSetTaskbar'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoPropertiesMyDocuments'
        - 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoTrayContextMenu'
    Details: 'DWORD (0x00000001)'

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`Details`	eq	`DWORD (0x00000001)` corpus 40 (sigma 36, chronicle 4)	`field:"Details" kind:eq value:"DWORD (0x00000001)"`
`TargetObject`	ends_with	`SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoClose` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoControlPanel` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFileMenu` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoFind` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoLogOff` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoPropertiesMyDocuments` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoRun` corpus 2 (sigma 2) `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoSetTaskbar` `SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoTrayContextMenu`	`field:"TargetObject" kind:ends_with`

Registry Explorer Policy Modification

Known false positives

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Telemetry coverage

Rule body

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection_set_1

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection_set_1`