Malicious ETW Disabling via COMPlus_ETWEnabled Environment Variable

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the COMPlus_ETWEnabled environment variable being set to zero, which disables Event Tracing for Windows for the CLR. In the WithSecure Windows Lab 2 an HTA uses WScript.Shell to set this variable so subsequent .NET tooling such as SharpSploit runs without generating ETW telemetry. Attackers blind ETW to hide in-memory .NET execution from EDR sensors.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious ETW Disabling via COMPlus_ETWEnabled Environment Variable

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.

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