IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Network Connection via Registration Utility

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Network Connection via Registration Utility

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Identifies the native Windows tools regsvr32.exe, regsvr64.exe, RegSvcs.exe, or RegAsm.exe making a network connection. This may be indicative of an attacker bypassing allowlists or running arbitrary scripts via a signed Microsoft binary.

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

References:

https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ipv4-special-registry/iana-ipv4-special-registry.xhtml

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Execution

Version: 13 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.6.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

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Security testing may produce events like this. Activity of this kind performed by non-engineers and ordinary users is unusual.

Rule query

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sequence by process.entity_id [process where event.type == "start"
and process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe", "RegSvcs.exe")
and not ( (?process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name :
"System" or ?winlog.event_data.IntegrityLevel : "System") and
(process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" or process.parent.executable :
("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "C:\\Program Files\\*.exe"))
) ] [network where process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe",
"RegSvcs.exe") and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
"192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32",
"192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32", "192.0.2.0/24",
"192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16",
"192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "100.64.0.0/10",
"192.175.48.0/24","198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24",
"203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1", "FE80::/10",
"FF00::/8") and network.protocol != "dns"]

Threat mapping

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Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: System Binary Proxy Execution
- ID: T1218
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1218/

Rule version history

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Version 13 (8.4.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 11 (8.2.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by process.entity_id [process where event.type == "start"
and process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe", "RegSvcs.exe")
and not ( (process.Ext.token.integrity_level_name :
"System" or winlog.event_data.IntegrityLevel : "System") and
(process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" or process.parent.executable :
("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "C:\\Program Files\\*.exe"))
) ] [network where process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe",
"RegSvcs.exe") and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
"192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32",
"192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32", "192.0.2.0/24",
"192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16",
"192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "100.64.0.0/10",
"192.175.48.0/24","198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24",
"203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1", "FE80::/10",
"FF00::/8") and network.protocol != "dns"]

Version 10 (8.1.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by process.entity_id [process where event.type == "start"
and process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe", "RegSvcs.exe")
and not ( user.id == "S-1-5-18" and
(process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" or process.parent.executable :
("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "C:\\Program Files\\*.exe"))
) ] [network where process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe",
"RegSvcs.exe") and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"127.0.0.0/8", "169.254.0.0/16", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.0.0.0/24",
"192.0.0.0/29", "192.0.0.8/32", "192.0.0.9/32", "192.0.0.10/32",
"192.0.0.170/32", "192.0.0.171/32", "192.0.2.0/24",
"192.31.196.0/24", "192.52.193.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16",
"192.88.99.0/24", "224.0.0.0/4", "100.64.0.0/10",
"192.175.48.0/24","198.18.0.0/15", "198.51.100.0/24",
"203.0.113.0/24", "240.0.0.0/4", "::1", "FE80::/10",
"FF00::/8") and network.protocol != "dns"]

Version 9 (7.14.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by process.entity_id [process where event.type == "start"
and process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe", "RegSvcs.exe")
and not ( user.id == "S-1-5-18" and
(process.parent.name : "msiexec.exe" or process.parent.executable :
("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe", "C:\\Program Files\\*.exe"))
) ] [network where process.name : ("regsvr32.exe", "RegAsm.exe",
"RegSvcs.exe") and not cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8",
"169.254.169.254", "172.16.0.0/12", "192.168.0.0/16") and
network.protocol != "dns"]

Version 8 (7.13.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

sequence by process.entity_id [process where (process.name :
"regsvr32.exe" or process.name : "regsvr64.exe" or
process.name : "RegAsm.exe" or process.name : "RegSvcs.exe") and
event.type == "start"] [network where (process.name : "regsvr32.exe"
or process.name : "regsvr64.exe" or process.name :
"RegAsm.exe" or process.name : "RegSvcs.exe") and not
cidrmatch(destination.ip, "10.0.0.0/8", "169.254.169.254",
"172.16.0.0/12", "192.168.0.0/16")]

Version 7 (7.12.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 6 (7.11.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 5 (7.10.0 release)

Rule name changed from: Network Connection via Regsvr

Updated query, changed from:

event.category:network and event.type:connection and
process.name:(regsvr32.exe or regsvr64.exe) and not
destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or 169.254.169.254 or 172.16.0.0/12 or
192.168.0.0/16)

Version 4 (7.9.1 release)

Formatting only

Version 3 (7.9.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

process.name:(regsvr32.exe or regsvr64.exe) and event.action:"Network
connection detected (rule: NetworkConnect)" and not
destination.ip:(10.0.0.0/8 or 169.254.169.254 or 172.16.0.0/12 or
192.168.0.0/16)

Version 2 (7.7.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

(process.name:regsvr32.exe or process.name:regsvr64.exe) and
event.action:"Network connection detected (rule: NetworkConnect)" and
not destination.ip:169.254.169.254/32 and not
destination.ip:10.0.0.0/8 and not destination.ip:172.16.0.0/12 and not
destination.ip:192.168.0.0/16

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