huntrule

Windows Registry Policy Modification for Explorer UI Function Disabling

Flags Windows Explorer policy registry value writes (DWORD 0x1) that disable Explorer functions or UI elements.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
frack113 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2022-03-18
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 identifies Windows registry policy changes under the Explorer Policies path that set specific values to DWORD 0x00000001. These settings disable or remove Explorer functions, which can impair user access and support attacker persistence or defense evasion. It relies on telemetry that records registry set events, including the modified target registry key/value and the value data. Matching is limited to entries ending with the listed Explorer policy keys and requiring the DWORD value to be 1.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1112 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Enabling of Restricted Admin Mode via Registry by UAT-8837
Suspicious Enabling of Remote Desktop via fDenyTSConnections Registry by DeadLock Ransomware
Malicious Service DLL Hijack for Persistence via Lotus Blossom
Suspicious Loopback Proxy Server Configured via Registry (via registry_set)
Malicious WDigest Credential Caching Enabled via Registry (via registry_set)
Suspicious Remote Desktop Enabled via fDenyTSConnections Registry by Sandworm
Malicious Gh0stBins RAT Registry Marker HHClient
Suspicious PebbleDash C2 Configuration Stored Under WMI Security Key (via registry_set)
Suspicious WDigest UseLogonCredential Enablement for Plaintext Credential Theft (via registry_set)
Windows Registry Policy Modification for Explorer UI Function Disabling
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.