Malicious Winlogon Shell or Userinit Persistence Modification (via registry_set)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- registry_set
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-09-02
- Updated
- 2026-09-02
ATT&CK techniques
Persistence → Priv EscRecon
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 modification of the Winlogon Shell or Userinit values, which are executed at every interactive logon and are abused to launch a payload persistently with the user's session. Winlogon helper persistence is a technique tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting changes to these keys surfaces a logon-triggered persistence foothold.
Reporting behind it
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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