Windows Modify Registry Disable Windows Security Center Notif
Description
The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows registry aimed at disabling Windows Security Center notifications. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry datamodel, specifically monitoring changes to the registry path "\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\UseActionCenterExperience" with a value of "0x00000000". This activity is significant as it can indicate an attempt by adversaries or malware, such as Azorult, to evade defenses by suppressing critical update notifications. If confirmed malicious, this could allow attackers to persist undetected, potentially leading to further exploitation and compromise of the host system.
- Type: Anomaly
- Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Datamodel: Endpoint
- Last Updated: 2024-05-21
- Author: Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
- ID: 27ed3e79-6d86-44dd-b9ab-524451c97a7b
Annotations
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.AE
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= "*\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\ImmersiveShell\\UseActionCenterExperience*" Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000000" 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_modify_registry_disable_windows_security_center_notif_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_modify_registry_disable_windows_security_center_notif_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_path
- Registry.user
- Registry.dest
- Registry.registry_value_name
- 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. Also make sure that this registry was included in your config files ex. sysmon config to be monitored.
Known False Positives
administrators may enable or disable this feature that may cause some false positive.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
49.0 | 70 | 70 | the registry for security center notification settings was modified to disable mode 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://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/unattend/microsoft-windows-remoteassistance-exe-fallowtogethelp
- https://app.any.run/tasks/a6f2ffe2-e6e2-4396-ae2e-04ea0143f2d8/
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: 2