huntrule

Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to ProgramData Executable

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-11-02
Updated
2026-11-02
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc

  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 detects creation of an autorun value under the Run key whose data points to an executable in ProgramData. Warzone RAT registers a Run value named Images that launches images.exe from the ProgramData directory at every logon for persistence. Run key entries executing binaries out of ProgramData are a frequent malware persistence pattern.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Run Key Persistence Referencing PowerShell Script via registry_set
Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to ProgramData Executable
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.