Suspicious RDP Enablement via fDenyTSConnections Registry Modification [Huntress] #2

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1112Modify Registry
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1112Modify Registry
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.001Remote Desktop Protocol
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects reg.exe setting the fDenyTSConnections value to 0, which enables Remote Desktop connections on a host. It was observed in a Huntress analysis of repeatedly exploited RDP misconfigurations where attackers turned on RDP to establish interactive access. Enabling RDP from the command line during an intrusion facilitates lateral movement and hands-on-keyboard control.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1021.001 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Enabling of Remote Desktop via fDenyTSConnections Registry by DeadLock Ransomware

Suspicious Remote Desktop Enabled via fDenyTSConnections Registry by Sandworm

Malicious Remote Desktop Enablement via Registry

Enabling RDP service via reg.exe command execution

Suspicious LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy Enabled via Registry (UAT-7237)

Windows reg.exe Used to Modify RDP Terminal Server Registry Values

Suspicious Firewall Rule Added to Open RDP Port 3389 via netsh

Suspicious SSH Reverse Tunnel Execution via process_creation

Suspicious Remote Desktop Enablement via Registry fDenyTSConnections

Suspicious RDP Enablement via fDenyTSConnections Registry Modification [Huntress] #2

Pivot detection · T1021.001 · 9 related

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

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