Windows Process Creation: Suspicious reg.exe Query for MachineGuid

Detects reg.exe queries for MachineGuid under SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography via process creation logs.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v1

Product: windows
Category: process_creation
Author: frack113 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2022-01-01
Updated: 2026-07-30

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1082System Information Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows process executions where reg.exe is used with command-line arguments that query the SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography registry location for the MachineGuid value. Attackers may use MachineGuid as a stable host identifier to support discovery, correlation, or environment fingerprinting. Detection relies on process creation telemetry including the executable path and full command line arguments.

Reporting behind it

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Windows Process Creation: Suspicious reg.exe Query for MachineGuid

Pivot detection · T1082 · 9 related

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

windows-process-creation-suspicious-reg-exe-query-for-machineguid-f5240972

title: "Windows Process Creation: Suspicious reg.exe Query for MachineGuid"
id: 4535bdd2-2e8a-448d-a1fd-0c7a301e1097
status: test
description: This rule flags Windows process executions where reg.exe is used with command-line arguments that query the SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography registry location for the MachineGuid value. Attackers may use MachineGuid as a stable host identifier to support discovery, correlation, or environment fingerprinting. Detection relies on process creation telemetry including the executable path and full command line arguments.
references:
  - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1082/T1082.md#atomic-test-8---windows-machineguid-discovery
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_reg_machineguid.yml
author: frack113, Huntrule Team
date: 2022-01-01
tags:
  - attack.discovery
  - attack.t1082
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    Image|endswith: \reg.exe
    CommandLine|contains|all:
      - SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography
      - "/v "
      - MachineGuid
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: low
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: f5240972-3938-4e56-8e4b-e33893176c1f
    type: derived

Convert

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