Shell Open Registry Keys Manipulation

calendar Jan 24, 2026 · attack.persistence attack.defense-evasion attack.privilege-escalation attack.t1548.002 attack.t1546.001  ·
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Detects the shell open key manipulation (exefile and ms-settings) used for persistence and the pattern of UAC Bypass using fodhelper.exe, computerdefaults.exe, slui.exe via registry keys (e.g. UACMe 33 or 62)

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: Shell Open Registry Keys Manipulation
 2id: 152f3630-77c1-4284-bcc0-4cc68ab2f6e7
 3related:
 4    - id: dd3ee8cc-f751-41c9-ba53-5a32ed47e563
 5      type: similar
 6status: test
 7description: Detects the shell open key manipulation (exefile and ms-settings) used for persistence and the pattern of UAC Bypass using fodhelper.exe, computerdefaults.exe, slui.exe via registry keys (e.g. UACMe 33 or 62)
 8references:
 9    - https://github.com/hfiref0x/UACME
10    - https://winscripting.blog/2017/05/12/first-entry-welcome-and-uac-bypass/
11    - https://github.com/RhinoSecurityLabs/Aggressor-Scripts/tree/master/UACBypass
12    - https://tria.ge/211119-gs7rtshcfr/behavioral2 [Lokibot sample from Nov 2021]
13author: Christian Burkard (Nextron Systems)
14date: 2021-08-30
15modified: 2022-01-13
16tags:
17    - attack.persistence
18    - attack.defense-evasion
19    - attack.privilege-escalation
20    - attack.t1548.002
21    - attack.t1546.001
22logsource:
23    category: registry_event
24    product: windows
25detection:
26    selection1:
27        EventType: SetValue
28        TargetObject|endswith: 'Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command\SymbolicLinkValue'
29        Details|contains: '\Software\Classes\{'
30    selection2:
31        TargetObject|endswith: 'Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command\DelegateExecute'
32    selection3:
33        EventType: SetValue
34        TargetObject|endswith:
35            - 'Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command\(Default)'
36            - 'Classes\exefile\shell\open\command\(Default)'
37    filter_sel3:
38        Details: '(Empty)'
39    condition: selection1 or selection2 or (selection3 and not filter_sel3)
40falsepositives:
41    - Unknown
42level: high

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