Suspicious computerdefaults.exe Spawning Child Process

ATT&CK techniques

Priv Esc → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Defense Evasion
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects computerdefaults.exe launching a child process which indicates the auto-elevating binary is being abused for a ms-settings UAC bypass. The Batavia spyware chains this to run its payload with elevated privileges without a consent prompt. A child process under computerdefaults.exe is unusual since the tool normally opens a settings UI only.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1548.002 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious UAC Bypass via explorer.exe NOUACCHECK Argument

Suspicious UAC Bypass via ms-settings Shell Command Hijack (via registry_set)

Suspicious UAC Weakening via ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin Disable by Winos (via registry_set)

Suspicious Fodhelper UAC Bypass ms-settings Command Registry Modification

Malicious UAC Bypass via HKCU Environment windir Hijack

Suspicious UAC Bypass via Fodhelper or Eventvwr Auto-Elevated Process

Suspicious computerdefaults.exe Spawning Child Process

Pivot detection · T1548.002 · 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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