Malicious Winlogon Shell Persistence Modification (via registry_set)

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1547.004Winlogon Helper DLL
Priv Esc
- T1547.004Winlogon Helper DLL
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects modification of the Winlogon Shell registry value to something other than the default explorer.exe, a persistence technique used by MuddyWater per Group-IB. Adversaries alter the Winlogon Shell entry so their payload launches at every interactive logon, making changes to this value a strong persistence signal.

Reporting behind it

Related detections7 linkedT1547.004 — drag to rearrange

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PowerShell ScriptBlock Winlogon Registry Modification via CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Malicious Winlogon Shell Persistence Modification (via registry_set)

Pivot detection · T1547.004 · 7 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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