huntrule

Windows Security 4719: Important Audit Policy Categories Disabled

Alerts on Windows Security 4719 indicating auditing was disabled for important security event subcategories.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Service
security
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2023-06-20
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

  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 Security Event ID 4719 events where audit policy changes indicate removal of auditing for multiple important subcategories (e.g., Process Creation, Logon, and other security-related categories). Reducing or disabling these audit settings can help an attacker evade detection by suppressing key telemetry needed for investigations. It relies on the Security event’s SubcategoryGuid values and the presence of the success/failure removal markers in the AuditPolicyChanges field.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685.001 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Security Event Log Disabled via wevtutil
Malicious SQL Server Auditing Deactivated (via application)
Malicious Event Log Deactivation or Size Reduction - Command (via process_creation)
Malicious Audit Policy Disabled by Command Line (via process_creation)
Suspicious IIS Logging Disabled via appcmd
Malicious SQL Server Database Auditing Deactivated (via application)
Malicious Audit Policy Disabled by Command Line (via security)
Malicious Event Log Tampering via wevtutil Channel Disable by FunkSec Ransomware (via process_creation)
OCSP Responder Auditing Settings Changed or Disabled (via security)
Windows Security 4719: Important Audit Policy Categories Disabled
Pivot detection · T1685.001 · 9 related

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