Suspicious Winlogon AutoAdminLogon Credential Registration

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-08-11
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Defense Evasion

  6. Cred Access

  7. Discovery

  8. Lateral Movement

  9. Collection

  10. C2

  11. Exfiltration

  12. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects enabling of Winlogon automatic logon by writing AutoAdminLogon, DefaultUserName or DefaultPassword under the Winlogon key. The ToyMaker access broker set these values so a reboot into their controlled session authenticates automatically, cementing persistence and easing the handoff of the compromised host to extortion affiliates.

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 Winlogon AutoAdminLogon Credential Registration
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.