Malicious SharpGPOAbuse GPO Modification Tool from Public Directory

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1484.001Group Policy Modification
Defense Evasion
- T1484.001Group Policy Modification
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of the SharpGPOAbuse tool renamed to gpo.exe from the C:\Users\Public directory during a CrazyHunter ransomware intrusion. The attacker abuses Group Policy to push ransomware components domain-wide, so an unsigned GPO manipulation binary launched from a world-writable path signals defense evasion and preparation for mass deployment.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1484.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Modification of a Sensitive Group Policy - GPO (via security)

Suspicious Group Policy File System Path Redirection via Directory Service Change

Malicious GPO Permission Abuse via SharpGPOAbuse

Suspicious Executable Launched from SYSVOL Share

Suspicious Permissions Changed on a Group Policy - GPO (via security)

Suspicious Executable Launched from Domain Netlogon Share (via process_creation)

Windows Process: GPME Used to Modify Default Domain and Default Domain Controllers GPOs

Windows Security Event 5136 for Changes to Default Domain and Default Domain Controllers GPOs

Windows: GPO Modification Adds Startup/Logon Script References

Malicious SharpGPOAbuse GPO Modification Tool from Public Directory

Pivot detection · T1484.001 · 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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