Windows Registry: DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation Set to 1

Alerts when Windows disables Hypervisor Enforced Paging Translation by setting DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation to 1.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1

Product: windows
Category: registry_set
Author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2024-07-05
Updated: 2026-07-30

Analysis Detection

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 flags changes to the DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation registry value when it is set to DWORD 0x00000001. Disabling hypervisor enforced paging translation can weaken a key platform security control, making it relevant for defense impairment. The detection relies on Windows registry-set telemetry capturing the value name and the DWORD data written by the actor.

Reporting behind it

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Windows Registry: DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation Set to 1

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.

windows-registry-disablehypervisorenforcedpagingtranslation-set-to-1-7f2954d2

title: "Windows Registry: DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation Set to 1"
id: dabd3151-dd6b-47c6-ac43-350dcd03ec89
status: test
description: This rule flags changes to the DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation registry value when it is set to DWORD 0x00000001. Disabling hypervisor enforced paging translation can weaken a key platform security control, making it relevant for defense impairment. The detection relies on Windows registry-set telemetry capturing the value name and the DWORD data written by the actor.
references:
  - https://twitter.com/standa_t/status/1808868985678803222
  - https://github.com/AaLl86/WindowsInternals/blob/070dc4f317726dfb6ffd2b7a7c121a33a8659b5e/Slides/Hypervisor-enforced%20Paging%20Translation%20-%20The%20end%20of%20non%20data-driven%20Kernel%20Exploits%20(Recon2024).pdf
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_deviceguard_hypervisorenforcedpagingtranslation_disabled.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), Huntrule Team
date: 2024-07-05
tags:
  - attack.defense-impairment
  - attack.t1685
logsource:
  category: registry_set
  product: windows
detection:
  selection:
    TargetObject|endswith: \DisableHypervisorEnforcedPagingTranslation
    Details: DWORD (0x00000001)
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 7f2954d2-99c2-4d42-a065-ca36740f187b
    type: derived

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