Registry Persistence via AppInit DLL

Attackers may maintain persistence by creating registry keys using AppInit DLLs. AppInit DLLs are loaded by every process using the common library, user32.dll.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

• winlogbeat-*
• logs-endpoint.events.*
• logs-windows.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

• Elastic
• Host
• Windows
• Threat Detection
• Persistence

Version: 6

Rule authors:

• Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

registry where
   registry.path : ("HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Windows\\AppInit_Dlls",
                    "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Windows\\AppInit_Dlls") and
   not process.executable : ("C:\\Windows\\System32\\msiexec.exe",
                             "C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msiexec.exe",
                             "C:\\Program Files\\Commvault\\ContentStore*\\Base\\cvd.exe",
                             "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Commvault\\ContentStore*\\Base\\cvd.exe")

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

• Tactic:

  • Name: Persistence
  • ID: TA0003
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/

• Technique:

  • Name: Event Triggered Execution
  • ID: T1546
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/

• Sub-technique:

  • Name: AppInit DLLs
  • ID: T1546.010
  • Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1546/010/