Malicious AMSI Bypass via PowerShell amsiInitFailed Patch

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
ps_script
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-25
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects PowerShell reflection that flips the AMSI amsiInitFailed field to disable in-memory script scanning. Fake browser update chains delivering BitRAT and Lumma Stealer used this to blind AMSI before reflective .NET loading. Disabling AMSI removes a primary defense against staged malicious payloads.

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Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Enumeration via reg query (via process_creation)
Malicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell (via process_creation)
Malicious BYOVD EDR Kill via Renamed GMER Driver by Agonizing Serpens
Malicious AMSI Bypass via PowerShell amsiInitFailed Patch
Pivot detection · T1685 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.