IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates
will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the
current release documentation.
Privilege Escalation via Windir Environment Variable
editPrivilege Escalation via Windir Environment Variable
editIdentifies a privilege escalation attempt via a rogue Windows directory (Windir) environment variable. This is a known primitive that is often combined with other vulnerabilities to elevate privileges.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
Severity: high
Risk score: 71
Runs every: 5 minutes
Searches indices from: now-6m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time
)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Windows
- Threat Detection
- Privilege Escalation
Version: 2 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.2
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License
Rule query
editregistry where registry.path : ("HKEY_USERS\\*\\Environment\\windir", "HKEY_USERS\\*\\Environment\\systemroot") and not registry.data.strings : ("C:\\windows", "%SystemRoot%")
Threat mapping
editFramework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
-
Technique:
- Name: Hijack Execution Flow
- ID: T1574
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1574/
Rule version history
edit- Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
-
- Formatting only