Suspicious Autorun Registry Modified via WMI

 1title: Suspicious Autorun Registry Modified via WMI
 2id: c80e66d8-1780-48a9-b412-46663fd21ac0
 3status: experimental
 4description: |
 5        Detects suspicious activity where the WMIC process is used to create an autorun registry entry via reg.exe, which is often indicative of persistence mechanisms employed by malware.
 6references:
 7    - Internal Research
 8    - https://github.com/HackTricks-wiki/hacktricks/blob/e4c7b21b8f36c97c35b7c622732b38a189ce18f7/src/windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation/privilege-escalation-with-autorun-binaries.md
 9author: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems)
10date: 2025-02-17
11tags:
12    - attack.privilege-escalation
13    - attack.execution
14    - attack.persistence
15    - attack.t1547.001
16    - attack.t1047
17logsource:
18    category: process_creation
19    product: windows
20detection:
21    selection_execution_img:
22        - Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
23        - OriginalFileName: 'wmic.exe' # wmic process call create 'reg.exe add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v Desktops /t REG_SZ /d "\"C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\tre\Desktops.exe\" random" /f'
24        - ParentImage|endswith: '\wmiprvse.exe'
25    selection_execution_cmd:
26        CommandLine|contains|all:
27            - 'reg'
28            - ' add '
29        CommandLine|contains:
30            - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
31            - '\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
32            - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run'
33    selection_suspicious_paths_1:
34        CommandLine|contains:
35            - ':\Perflogs'
36            - :\ProgramData'
37            - ':\Windows\Temp'
38            - ':\Temp'
39            - '\AppData\Local\Temp'
40            - '\AppData\Roaming'
41            - ':\$Recycle.bin'
42            - ':\Users\Default'
43            - ':\Users\public'
44            - '%temp%'
45            - '%tmp%'
46            - '%Public%'
47            - '%AppData%'
48    selection_suspicious_paths_user_1:
49        CommandLine|contains: ':\Users\'
50    selection_suspicious_paths_user_2:
51        CommandLine|contains:
52            - '\Favorites'
53            - '\Favourites'
54            - '\Contacts'
55            - '\Music'
56            - '\Pictures'
57            - '\Documents'
58            - '\Photos'
59    condition: all of selection_execution_* and (selection_suspicious_paths_1 or (all of selection_suspicious_paths_user_*))
60falsepositives:
61    - Legitimate administrative activity or software installations
62level: high