Suspicious Microsoft Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell Add-MpPreference (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
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 PowerShell adding a Microsoft Defender path or process exclusion through Add-MpPreference, a defense-evasion step used by XWorm loaders to whitelist their payload before execution. Adversaries leverage exclusions to run malware without antivirus inspection, so detecting exclusion additions from scripted PowerShell helps catch the intrusion before payload launch.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious SELinux Enforcement Disabled via Setenforce Command Line (via process_creation)

Suspicious SELinux and Firewall Disabling on Linux by Cryptominer (via process_creation)

Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion of User Profile via PowerShell (via process_creation)

Suspicious Microsoft Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell Add-MpPreference (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1685 · 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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