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Windows Registry: Office VBAWarning Disabled (VBAWarnings set to 1)

Alerts on Security\VBAWarnings being set to DWORD 0x00000001, enabling all Office VBA macros.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
Trent Liffick (@tliffick), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2020-05-22
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Windows registry changes under the Security\VBAWarnings path where the VBAWarnings setting is set to DWORD value 0x00000001. That configuration enables execution of all Microsoft Office VBA macros, regardless of whether they are signed. Attackers can use defense-impairing changes like this to reduce macro security controls. Telemetry relied upon is registry set events capturing the modified target path and the DWORD value written.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Disabling of Chromium App-Bound Encryption via Policy Registry Key (via registry_set)
Windows reg.exe Registry Tampering of Internal Tool and Explorer Policy Settings (T1112)
Suspicious Disabling of Restricted Admin Mode via Registry (via registry_set)
Malicious WDigest UseLogonCredential Enabled for Cleartext Credential Theft (via registry_set)
Suspicious ClickFix RunMRU Entry Recording LOLBIN Command from Run Dialog
Windows Registry: Office VBAWarning Disabled (VBAWarnings set to 1)
Pivot detection · T1112 · 9 related

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