Unusual Persistence via Services Registry

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&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
Technique:
- Name: Create or Modify System Process
- ID: T1543
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1543/

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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