Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added for ProgramData (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 command lines that add a Microsoft Defender exclusion path covering C:\ProgramData which the CoralRaider batch script uses to hide staged payloads from antivirus scanning. Adding scan exclusions is a common impairment of defenses that lets malware execute and persist from a trusted allowlisted directory.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious ESXi Management Agent Stop via vpxa init Script (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Firewall Disable via esxcli (via process_creation)

Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added for ProgramData (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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