Windows Impair Defense Set Win Defender Smart Screen Level To Warn
Description
The following analytic identifies a modification in the Windows registry to set windows defender smart screen level to warn. Setting the ShellSmartScreenLevel to warn implies a SmartScreen configuration where the system displays a warning prompt when users attempt to run or access potentially risky or unrecognized files or applications. This warning serves as a cautionary alert to users, advising them about the potential risks associated with the file or application they are trying to execute. Changing SmartScreen settings to "warn" might be employed by attackers to reduce the likelihood of triggering immediate suspicion from users when running malicious executables. By setting it to "warn," the system prompts a cautionary warning rather than outright blocking the execution, potentially increasing the chances of users proceeding with running the file despite the warning.
- Type: TTP
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2024-01-08
- Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
- ID: cc2a3425-2703-47e7-818f-3dca1b0bc56f
Annotations
ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\Microsoft\\Windows\\System\\ShellSmartScreenLevel" Registry.registry_value_data="Warn" by Registry.registry_key_name Registry.user Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_value_data Registry.action Registry.dest
| `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)`
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `windows_impair_defense_set_win_defender_smart_screen_level_to_warn_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_impair_defense_set_win_defender_smart_screen_level_to_warn_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Required fields
List of fields required to use this analytic.
- _time
- Registry.registry_key_name
- Registry.registry_value_name
- Registry.dest
- Registry.user
- Registry.registry_path
- Registry.action
How To Implement
To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the Endpoint
datamodel in the Registry
node.
Known False Positives
It is unusual to turn this feature off a Windows system since it is a default security control, although it is not rare for some policies to disable it. Although no false positives have been identified, use the provided filter macro to tune the search.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
49.0 | 70 | 70 | Windows Defender SmartScreen Level to Warn on $dest$. |
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.
Reference
- https://x.com/malmoeb/status/1742604217989415386?s=20
- https://github.com/undergroundwires/privacy.sexy
Test Dataset
Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py
tool or the UI.
Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range
source | version: 1