Sigma rule: Potential COM Object Hijacking Via TreatAs Subkey - Registry

Rule

Title

Potential COM Object Hijacking Via TreatAs Subkey - Registry

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Kutepov Anton, oscd.community

Date

2019-10-23

Modified

2025-10-26

File

rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_persistence_com_key_linking.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects COM object hijacking via TreatAs subkey

Log source

product

windows

category

registry_set

Detection

selection:
    TargetObject|contains|all:
        - 'HKU\'
        - 'Classes\CLSID\'
        - '\TreatAs'
filter_main_svchost:
    # Example of target object by svchost
    # TargetObject: HKU\S-1-5-21-1098798288-3663759343-897484398-1001_Classes\CLSID\{0003000A-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\TreatAs
    Image: 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe'
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Maybe some system utilities in rare cases use linking keys for backward compatibility

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.persistence
• attack.t1546.015

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1546.015

References

• https://bohops.com/2018/08/18/abusing-the-com-registry-structure-part-2-loading-techniques-for-evasion-and-persistence/

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/registry/registry_set/registry_set_persistence_com_key_linking.yml