Malicious Windows Firewall Disable via Netsh

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 netsh disabling the Windows firewall, removing host network restrictions to ease lateral movement and remote access. This was observed during KawaLocker ransomware deployment together with RDP enablement. Turning off the firewall exposes services and undermines network segmentation defenses.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1686 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Firewall Rule Added Using PowerShell or CMD (via firewall-as)

Suspicious Firewall Rule Masquerading as CloudExperienceHost via netsh

Suspicious Firewall Rule Masquerading As Windows Update (via process_creation)

Suspicious Firewall Logging Disable via netsh (via process_creation)

Malicious Windows Firewall Disable via Netsh

Pivot detection · T1686 · 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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