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Elastic Docs ›Elastic Security Solution [7.16] ›Detections and alerts ›Prebuilt rule reference

Unusual Persistence via Services Registry

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Unusual Persistence via Services Registry

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Identifies processes modifying the services registry key directly, instead of through the expected Windows APIs. This could be an indication of an adversary attempting to stealthily persist through abnormal service creation or modification of an existing service.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • winlogbeat-*
  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • logs-windows.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Persistence

Version: 4 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 7.13.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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registry where registry.path :
("HKLM\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\ServiceDLL",
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\ImagePath") and not
registry.data.strings : ("?:\\windows\\system32\\Drivers\\*.sys",
"\\SystemRoot\\System32\\drivers\\*.sys",
"\\??\\?:\\Windows\\system32\\Drivers\\*.SYS",
"system32\\DRIVERS\\USBSTOR") and not (process.name :
"procexp??.exe" and registry.data.strings : "?:\\*\\procexp*.sys") and
not process.executable : ("?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
"?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\winsxs\\*\\TiWorker.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\drvinst.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\services.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
"?:\\Windows\\System32\\regsvr32.exe")

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version history

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Version 4 (7.13.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    registry where registry.path :
("HKLM\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\ServiceDLL",
"HKLM\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet*\\Services\\*\\ImagePath") and not
registry.data.strings : ("C:\\windows\\system32\\Drivers\\*.sys",
"\\SystemRoot\\System32\\drivers\\*.sys",
"system32\\DRIVERS\\USBSTOR") and not (process.name :
"procexp??.exe" and registry.data.strings : "C:\\*\\procexp*.sys") and
not process.executable : ("C:\\Program Files*\\*.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\svchost.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\winsxs\\*\\TiWorker.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\drvinst.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\services.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
"C:\\Windows\\System32\\regsvr32.exe")
Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
  • Formatting only
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