huntrule

PowerShell VBScript RegWrite Registry Modification Attempts

Identifies PowerShell commands embedding VBScript Wscript.shell .RegWrite to modify Windows registry values.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v2
Product
windows
Category
ps_script
Author
Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2025-08-13
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags PowerShell script content that constructs a VBScript shell object (CreateObject("Wscript.shell")) and calls the VBScript RegWrite method to modify registry values. This matters because attackers can perform registry changes without using common registry utilities or native registry cmdlets, which may help evade standard detections. Telemetry is based on PowerShell ScriptBlockText matches for CreateObject, Wscript.shell, and RegWrite within the same script block.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1112 — drag to rearrange
VBScript Registry Write Attempt via Wscript.shell RegWrite on Windows
Malicious Enabling of Restricted Admin Mode via Registry by UAT-8837
Suspicious Enabling of Remote Desktop via fDenyTSConnections Registry by DeadLock Ransomware
Malicious Service DLL Hijack for Persistence via Lotus Blossom
Suspicious Loopback Proxy Server Configured via Registry (via registry_set)
Malicious WDigest Credential Caching Enabled via Registry (via registry_set)
Suspicious Script Host Execution of Decoy-Named JavaScript Dropper (PS1Bot)
Malicious PathWiper Loader Script Execution from Windows Temp via WScript
Suspicious Office Application Spawning Script Or Shell Interpreter
PowerShell VBScript RegWrite Registry Modification Attempts
Pivot detection · T1112 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.