Encoded Executable Stored in the Registryedit

Identifies registry write modifications to hide an encoded portable executable. This could be indicative of adversary defense evasion by avoiding the storing of malicious content directly on disk.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

Tags:

  • Elastic
  • Host
  • Windows
  • Threat Detection
  • Defense Evasion

Version: 5 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.1.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule queryedit

registry where /* update here with encoding combinations */
registry.data.strings : "TVqQAAMAAAAEAAAA*"

Threat mappingedit

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM

Rule version historyedit

Version 5 (8.1.0 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 4 (7.16.0 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
  • Formatting only
Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
  • Formatting only