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.execution
13    - attack.persistence
14    - attack.t1547.001
15    - attack.t1047
16logsource:
17    category: process_creation
18    product: windows
19detection:
20    selection_execution_img:
21        - Image|endswith: '\wmic.exe'
22        - 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'
23        - ParentImage|endswith: '\wmiprvse.exe'
24    selection_execution_cmd:
25        CommandLine|contains|all:
26            - 'reg'
27            - ' add '
28        CommandLine|contains:
29            - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
30            - '\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'
31            - '\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run'
32    selection_suspicious_paths_1:
33        CommandLine|contains:
34            - ':\Perflogs'
35            - :\ProgramData'
36            - ':\Windows\Temp'
37            - ':\Temp'
38            - '\AppData\Local\Temp'
39            - '\AppData\Roaming'
40            - ':\$Recycle.bin'
41            - ':\Users\Default'
42            - ':\Users\public'
43            - '%temp%'
44            - '%tmp%'
45            - '%Public%'
46            - '%AppData%'
47    selection_suspicious_paths_user_1:
48        CommandLine|contains: ':\Users\'
49    selection_suspicious_paths_user_2:
50        CommandLine|contains:
51            - '\Favorites'
52            - '\Favourites'
53            - '\Contacts'
54            - '\Music'
55            - '\Pictures'
56            - '\Documents'
57            - '\Photos'
58    condition: all of selection_execution_* and (selection_suspicious_paths_1 or (all of selection_suspicious_paths_user_*))
59falsepositives:
60    - Legitimate administrative activity or software installations
61level: high