UAC Bypass via Windows Firewall Snap-In Hijack

Identifies attempts to bypass User Account Control (UAC) by hijacking the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Windows Firewall snap-in. Attackers bypass UAC to stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

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

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

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

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

https://github.com/AzAgarampur/byeintegrity-uac

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Privilege Escalation

Version: 4

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

process where event.type in ("start", "process_started") and
 process.parent.name == "mmc.exe" and
 /* process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name == "high" can be added in future for tuning */
 /* args of the Windows Firewall SnapIn */
  process.parent.args == "WF.msc" and process.name != "WerFault.exe"

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Privilege Escalation
- ID: TA0004
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0004/
Technique:
- Name: Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
- ID: T1548
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Bypass User Account Control
- ID: T1548.002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/002/

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