Elastic Security Detection Rules

WDAC Policy File by an Unusual Process

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 6 months ago on 2025-02-28

About

Identifies the creation of a Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policy file by an unusual process. Adversaries may use a secially crafted WDAC policy to restrict the execution of security products.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: SysmonData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: SentinelOneLanguage: eql
Severity
high
Risk Score
73
MITRE ATT&CK™

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Impair Defenses (T1562)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-endpoint.events.file-*logs-windows.sysmon_operational-*endgame-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-sentinel_one_cloud_funnel.*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

sentinel_one_cloud_funnel(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
file where host.os.type == "windows" and event.action != "deletion" and
 file.path : ("?:\\Windows\\System32\\CodeIntegrity\\*.p7b", "?:\\Windows\\System32\\CodeIntegrity\\CiPolicies\\Active\\*.cip") and
 not process.executable : "C:\\Windows\\System32\\poqexec.exe"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect WDAC Policy File by an Unusual Process in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).