Malicious Winlogon Automatic Logon Persistence via Registry AutoAdminLogon (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
Priv Esc
- T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
- T1552.001Credentials In Files
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects reg.exe writing Winlogon automatic-logon values by setting DefaultPassword together with AutoAdminLogon, a persistence and privilege-retention technique used in the Nitrogen BlackCat intrusion to plant a hardcoded backup domain account for reboot survival. Adversaries abuse AutoAdminLogon to store cleartext credentials and regain an interactive SYSTEM-adjacent session after the safeboot reboot, making it critical to surface before encryption.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Winlogon Automatic Logon Persistence via Registry AutoAdminLogon (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1547.001 · 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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