Sigma rule: Audit Policy Tampering Via Auditpol

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-0a3e12b519af, updated 2023-02-22T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Audit Policy Tampering Via Auditpol
Status
test
Level
high
Author
Janantha Marasinghe (https://github.com/blueteam0ps)
Date
2021-02-02
Modified
2023-02-22
File
rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_auditpol_susp_execution.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Threat actors can use auditpol binary to change audit policy configuration to impair detection capability.
This can be carried out by selectively disabling/removing certain audit policies as well as restoring a custom policy owned by the threat actor.

Log source

product
windows
category
process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith: '\auditpol.exe'
    - OriginalFileName: 'AUDITPOL.EXE'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains:
        - 'disable' # disables a specific audit policy
        - 'clear'   # delete or clears audit policy
        - 'remove'  # removes an audit policy
        - 'restore' # restores an audit policy
condition: all of selection_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Administrator or administrator scripts might leverage the flags mentioned in the detection section. Either way, it should always be monitored

Tags

  • attack.defense-impairment
  • attack.t1685.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_auditpol_susp_execution.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Audit Policy Tampering Via Auditpol" by Janantha Marasinghe (https://github.com/blueteam0ps) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_auditpol_susp_execution.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Audit Policy Tampering Via Auditpol",
entity page, dataset version ref-0a3e12b519af, updated 2023-02-22T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/0a13e132-651d-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 0a13e132-651d-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.