Name:Active Setup Registry Autostart id:f64579c0-203f-11ec-abcc-acde48001122 version:8 date:2024-12-08 author:Steven Dick, Teoderick Contreras, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic detects suspicious modifications to the Active Setup registry for persistence and privilege escalation. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, focusing on changes to the "StubPath" value within the "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Active Setup\\Installed Components" path. This activity is significant as it is commonly used by malware, adware, and APTs to maintain persistence on compromised machines. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to execute code upon system startup, potentially leading to further system compromise and unauthorized access. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 12
-Sysmon EventID 13
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry WHERE (Registry.registry_value_name= "StubPath" Registry.registry_path = "*\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Active Setup\\Installed Components*") BY Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_key_name Registry.registry_value_name Registry.registry_value_data Registry.process_guid Registry.dest Registry.user | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`| `active_setup_registry_autostart_filter`
how_to_implement:To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the registry value name, registry path, and registry value data from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 2.0 of the official Sysmon TA. https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/5709 known_false_positives:Active setup installer may add or modify this registry. References: -https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Backdoor%3AWin32%2FPoisonivy.E -https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/014/ drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$" and "$user$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$" user = "$user$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$" and "$user$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$", "$user$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Data Destruction' - 'Windows Privilege Escalation' - 'Hermetic Wiper' - 'Windows Persistence Techniques' asset_type:Endpoint confidence:80 impact:80 message:modified/added/deleted registry entry $registry_path$ in $dest$ mitre_attack_id: - 'T1547.014' - 'T1547' observable: name:'dest' type:'Hostname' - role: - 'Victim' name:'user' type:'User' - role: - 'Victim' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' required_fields: - '_time' - 'Registry.dest' - 'Registry.registry_value_name' - 'Registry.registry_key_name' - 'Registry.registry_path' - 'Registry.registry_value_data' - 'Registry.process_guid' risk_score:64 security_domain:endpoint
