Detection rules › Splunk
Windows Remote Access Software RMS Registry
The following analytic detects the creation or modification of Windows registry entries related to the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Remote Admin tool. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel, focusing on registry paths containing "SYSTEM\Remote Manipulator System." This activity is significant because RMS, while legitimate, is often abused by adversaries, such as in the Azorult malware campaigns, to gain unauthorized remote access. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to remotely control the targeted host, leading to potential data exfiltration, system manipulation, or further network compromise.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Command & Control | T1219 Remote Access Tools |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | Event ID 13 | RegistryEvent (Value Set) |
Rule body splunk
name: Windows Remote Access Software RMS Registry
id: e5b7b5a9-e471-4be8-8c5d-4083983ba329
version: 10
creation_date: '2022-06-24'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects the creation or modification of Windows registry entries related to the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Remote Admin tool. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel, focusing on registry paths containing "SYSTEM\\Remote Manipulator System." This activity is significant because RMS, while legitimate, is often abused by adversaries, such as in the Azorult malware campaigns, to gain unauthorized remote access. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to remotely control the targeted host, leading to potential data exfiltration, system manipulation, or further network compromise.
data_source:
- Sysmon EventID 13
search: '| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\SYSTEM\\Remote Manipulator System*" by Registry.action Registry.dest Registry.process_guid Registry.process_id Registry.registry_hive Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_type Registry.status Registry.user Registry.vendor_product | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_remote_access_software_rms_registry_filter`'
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the `Endpoint` datamodel in the `Registry` node. Also make sure that this registry was included in your config files ex. sysmon config to be monitored.
known_false_positives: administrators may enable or disable this feature that may cause some false positive.
references:
- https://app.any.run/tasks/a6f2ffe2-e6e2-4396-ae2e-04ea0143f2d8/
- https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/details/win.rms
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
finding:
title: the registry related to RMS tool is created on $dest$
entity:
field: dest
type: system
score: 50
analytic_story:
- Azorult
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
- T1219
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/malware/azorult/sysmon.log
source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: tstats
| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\SYSTEM\\Remote Manipulator System*" by Registry.action Registry.dest Registry.process_guid Registry.process_id Registry.registry_hive Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_type Registry.status Registry.user Registry.vendor_product
Stage 2: search
| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`
Stage 3: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 4: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 5: search
| `windows_remote_access_software_rms_registry_filter`
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 |
|---|---|---|
Registry.registry_path | eq |
|