Sigma rule: CurrentVersion NT Autorun Keys Modification

Rule

Title

CurrentVersion NT Autorun Keys Modification

Status

test

Level

medium

Author

Victor Sergeev, Daniil Yugoslavskiy, Gleb Sukhodolskiy, Timur Zinniatullin, oscd.community, Tim Shelton, frack113 (split)

Date

2019-10-25

Modified

2025-10-22

File

rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_asep_reg_keys_modification_currentversion_nt.yml

Commit

ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects modification of autostart extensibility point (ASEP) in registry.

Log source

product

windows

category

registry_set

Detection

selection_nt_current_version_base:
    TargetObject|contains: '\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion'
selection_nt_current_version:
    TargetObject|contains:
        - '\Winlogon\VmApplet'
        - '\Winlogon\Userinit'
        - '\Winlogon\Taskman'
        - '\Winlogon\Shell'
        - '\Winlogon\GpExtensions'
        - '\Winlogon\AppSetup'
        - '\Winlogon\AlternateShells\AvailableShells'
        - '\Windows\IconServiceLib'
        - '\Windows\Appinit_Dlls'
        - '\Image File Execution Options' # Covered in better details in 36803969-5421-41ec-b92f-8500f79c23b0
        - '\Font Drivers'
        - '\Drivers32'
        - '\Windows\Run'
        - '\Windows\Load'
filter_main_empty:
    Details: '(Empty)'
filter_main_null:
    Details: null
filter_main_poqexec:
    Image: 'C:\Windows\System32\poqexec.exe'
filter_main_legitimate_subkey:  # Legitimately used subkeys of \Image File Execution Options, which are not used for persistence (see https://pentestlab.blog/2020/01/13/persistence-image-file-execution-options-injection/)
    TargetObject|contains: '\Image File Execution Options\'
    TargetObject|endswith:
        - '\DisableExceptionChainValidation'
        - '\MitigationOptions'
filter_main_security_extension_dc:
    Image: 'C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe'
    TargetObject|contains:
        - '\Winlogon\GPExtensions\{827D319E-6EAC-11D2-A4EA-00C04F79F83A}\PreviousPolicyAreas'
        - '\Winlogon\GPExtensions\{827D319E-6EAC-11D2-A4EA-00C04F79F83A}\MaxNoGPOListChangesInterval'
    Details:
        - 'DWORD (0x00000001)'
        - 'DWORD (0x00000009)'
        - 'DWORD (0x000003c0)'
filter_main_runtimebroker:
    Image: 'C:\Windows\System32\RuntimeBroker.exe'
    TargetObject|contains: '\runtimebroker.exe\Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost'
filter_optional_edge:
    Image|startswith: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Temp\'
    Image|endswith: '\MicrosoftEdgeUpdate.exe'
filter_optional_avguard:
    Image|startswith:
        - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\Antivirus\avguard.exe'
        - 'C:\Program Files\Avira\Antivirus\avguard.exe'
    TargetObject|contains: 'SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Avira\Antivirus\Overwrite_Keys\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\'
    TargetObject|endswith:
        - '\userinit\UseAsDefault'
        - '\shell\UseAsDefault'
    Details:
        - 'explorer.exe'
        - 'C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe,'
filter_optional_msoffice:
    - TargetObject|contains:
          - '\ClickToRunStore\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\'
          - '\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\'
    - Image:
          - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\integration\integrator.exe'
          - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\integration\integrator.exe'
filter_optional_officeclicktorun:
    Image|startswith:
        - 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\'
        - 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\Updates\'
    Image|endswith: '\OfficeClickToRun.exe'
filter_optional_ngen:
    Image|startswith: 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework'
    Image|endswith: '\ngen.exe'
filter_optional_onedrive:
    Image|endswith: '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\StandaloneUpdater\OneDriveSetup.exe'
    TargetObject|endswith: '\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Delete Cached Update Binary'
    Details|startswith: 'C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /q /c del /q "C:\Users\'
    Details|endswith: '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\Update\OneDriveSetup.exe"'
condition: all of selection_* and not 1 of filter_main_* and not 1 of filter_optional_*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

• Legitimate software automatically (mostly, during installation) sets up autorun keys for legitimate reason
• Legitimate administrator sets up autorun keys for legitimate reason

Tags

• attack.privilege-escalation
• attack.persistence
• attack.t1547.001

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

• T1547.001

Related rules

• 17f878b8-9968-4578-b814-c4217fc5768c (obsolete)

References

• https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1547.001/T1547.001.md
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
• https://gist.github.com/GlebSukhodolskiy/0fc5fa5f482903064b448890db1eaf9d

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_asep_reg_keys_modification_currentversion_nt.yml