Suspicious Run Key Referencing Alternate Data Stream Payload

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-27
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Cred Access

  6. Discovery

  7. Lateral Movement

  8. Collection

  9. C2

  10. Exfiltration

  11. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects an autorun value whose data references an alternate data stream on the user profile. Gamaredon hides GammaPhish payloads in named streams such as USERPROFILE GTR and points a Run entry at them for stealthy persistence. Autorun values pointing into alternate data streams are a strong sign of hidden payload persistence.

Related detections9 linkedT1547.001 — drag to rearrange
Suspicious Internet Shortcut URL File Registered for Run Key Persistence (via registry_set)
Malicious Run Key Persistence Named SystemAgentService
Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to ProgramData Executable (via registry_set)
Suspicious Run Key Persistence Pointing to WScript via PhantomVAI Loader (via registry_set)
Suspicious Run Key Persistence Named Updater
Suspicious Run Key Persistence Executing VBScript as WindowsSecurityCheck
Suspicious RunOnce Persistence Pointing to User AppData
Malicious FalseFont Backdoor Run Key Persistence from AppData (via registry_set)
Malicious Registry Run Key Persistence via AHealthDB by Stately Taurus
Suspicious Run Key Referencing Alternate Data Stream Payload
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.