Windows Modify Registry Reg Restore

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Description

The following analytic identifies a process execution of reg.exe with "restore" parameter. This reg.exe parameter is commonly used to restore registry backup data in a targeted host. This approach or technique was also seen in post-exploitation tool like winpeas where it uses "reg save" and "reg restore" to check the registry modification restriction in targeted host after gaining access to it.

• Type: Hunting
• Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
• Datamodel: Endpoint
• Last Updated: 2022-12-12
• Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
• ID: d0072bd2-6d73-4c1b-bc77-ded6d2da3a4e

Annotations

ATT&CK

ATT&CK

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1012	Query Registry	Discovery

Kill Chain Phase

• Exploitation

NIST

• DE.AE

CIS20

• CIS 10

CVE

Search

| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime from datamodel=Endpoint.Processes where  `process_reg` AND Processes.process = "* restore *" by Processes.process_name Processes.original_file_name Processes.process Processes.process_id Processes.process_guid Processes.parent_process_name Processes.parent_process Processes.parent_process_guid Processes.dest Processes.user 
| `drop_dm_object_name(Processes)` 
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
| `windows_modify_registry_reg_restore_filter`

Macros

The SPL above uses the following Macros:

• security_content_ctime
• security_content_summariesonly
• process_reg

windows_modify_registry_reg_restore_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
• Processes.dest
• Processes.user
• Processes.parent_process_name
• Processes.parent_process
• Processes.original_file_name
• Processes.process_name
• Processes.process
• Processes.process_id
• Processes.parent_process_path
• Processes.process_path
• Processes.parent_process_id
• Processes.parent_process_guid
• Processes.process_guid

How To Implement

To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting logs with the process name, parent process, and command-line executions from your endpoints. If you are using Sysmon, you must have at least version 6.0.4 of the Sysmon TA. Tune and filter known instances of wermgr.exe may be used.

Known False Positives

network administrator can use this command tool to backup registry before updates or modifying critical registries.

Associated Analytic Story

• Windows Post-Exploitation
• Prestige Ransomware

RBA

Risk Score	Impact	Confidence	Message
9.0	30	30	execution of process $process_name$ in $dest$

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://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/quser
• https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/tree/master/winPEAS
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/10/14/new-prestige-ransomware-impacts-organizations-in-ukraine-and-poland/

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

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