Malicious Windows Defender Exclusion of System32 via Registry (via registry_set)

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 a Windows Defender path exclusion being registered for the System32 directory, a defense-evasion step in the full TinyTurla kill chain. Excluding System32 lets Turla stage and run its service DLL from a trusted location without antivirus inspection.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Windows Defender Exclusion of System32 via Registry (via registry_set)

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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