Persistence Run Key Pointing to svchost.exe in AppData Roaming

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-12
Updated
2026-09-12

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Defense Evasion

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a Run key autostart entry whose value references svchost.exe located under a user AppData Roaming path. The Yashma ransomware established persistence through a Run key pointing at its dropped svchost.exe masquerade copy. This lets the ransomware survive reboots by abusing a trusted process name from an illegitimate location.

Related detections9 linkedT1547.001 — drag to rearrange
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Suspicious Registry Run Key Referencing Public Libraries Folder (via registry_set)
Malicious Registry Run Key Persistence Using Scarlet Goldfinch OFFICE and DIVXX Values (via registry_set)
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Persistence Run Key Pointing to svchost.exe in AppData Roaming
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.