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Elastic Docs ›Elastic Security Solution [8.5] ›Detections and alerts ›Prebuilt rule reference

Installation of Custom Shim Databases

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Installation of Custom Shim Databases

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Identifies the installation of custom Application Compatibility Shim databases. This Windows functionality has been abused by attackers to stealthily gain persistence and arbitrary code execution in legitimate Windows processes.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

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: 101 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.5.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan = 5m [process where
event.type == "start" and not (process.name : "sdbinst.exe" and
process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe")] [registry where event.type in
("creation", "change") and registry.path :
"HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows
NT\\CurrentVersion\\AppCompatFlags\\Custom\\*.sdb"]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version history

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Version 101 (8.5.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan = 5m [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and not (process.name :
"sdbinst.exe" and process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe")] [registry
where event.type in ("creation", "change") and registry.path :
"HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows
NT\\CurrentVersion\\AppCompatFlags\\Custom\\*.sdb"]
Version 4 (8.4.0 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 3 (7.12.0 release)

  • Updated query, changed from:

    sequence by process.entity_id with maxspan=5m [process where
event.type in ("start", "process_started") and not (process.name
: "sdbinst.exe" and process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe")] [registry
where event.type in ("creation", "change") and
wildcard(registry.path, "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows
NT\\CurrentVersion\\AppCompatFlags\\Custom\\*.sdb")]
Version 2 (7.11.0 release)
  • Formatting only
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